With the exception of this moment, everything is a memory.
We run our lives with the information stored in our brains, a collection of experiences and understanding that has been growing since we were born. Unfortunately, for far too many of us, those memories and the mental skills needed for daily life slip away in the fog of Alzheimer’s Disease and other memory disorders.
Compounding the tragedy is that much of it is avoidable. If we worked as hard strengthening our brains as we do our bodies in the gym, there would be less memory loss, less heartache, less suffering.
While much remains to be discovered, we have ways to keep our minds more active and more alert even as we age. We deserve brain spans that match our ever-growing lifespans, and research being done here in Southern Nevada moves us closer to that goal.
I am honored to be part of the team at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, where our vow to “Keep Memory Alive” drives all we do.
As the senior director of clinical research development, I lead the Healthy Brains Initiative, an innovative platform to bring together a global online community to get engaged in brain-healthy lifestyles to reduce risk for brain disorders and contribute to science.
Through our app and website (healthybrains.org), this initiative provides free brain checkups, customized recommendations; a personalized brain health dashboard; and ways to participate in clinical trials and support the worthy cause of finding a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease.
I encourage you learn more about our program; you can discover the importance of our Six Pillars: regular exercise, mental fitness, good nutrition, proper sleep and relaxation, social interaction, and good overall medical health.
You control your destiny. By making better lifestyle choices you can markedly lower the your chance of suffering memory loss.
The Healthy Brains Initiative succeeds only because of the people of Southern Nevada, starting with those at the Caesars Foundation and their “Will to Do Wonders.” Their support keeps our work going and demonstrates a commitment to geriatric health that makes the Caesars Foundation a leader in this type of philanthropy.
Working with partners at UNLV led to a recent $11 million federal grant to create a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence here at our center. It will use the university’s supercomputer in new ways to the integrate lessons learned through education, research, observation, and clinical trials to promote improved public health.
Most importantly, we rely on our neighbors in the Las Vegas Valley to join us in the Healthy Brains Initiative by taking part in our many ongoing clinical trials. Without volunteers, our researchers could not do their work.
What Drives Me
People sometimes ask me if a personal connection to memory loss inspires my work. The answer is just the opposite.
As a young girl in China I spent much time with my grandmother. Her love, dignity, wisdom and wit gave me appreciation of elders. What my family calls “my old soul” led to me become a geriatric psychiatrist.
I have been fortunate to have an education and a career, things that were denied my grandmother. She came from a different time, when Chinese women endured “lotus feet,” a 1,000-year-old tradition of painfully binding young girls’ feet to keep them petite. This misguided symbol of social status left women disabled, with broken, twisted lumps for feet.
My grandmother could barely walk and winced in pain with each step. Even though she is gone, I can still hear the contented sighs and see the smile when as a girl I would make her tea and massage her feet.
All of us have memories like that — ones we want to cherish forever. The goal of keeping those memories alive is why I do what I do.