Presenter:

Niki Kapsambelis, Journalist and Author of The Inheritance: A Family on the Front Lines of the Battle Against Alzheimer’s Disease

The Battle Against Alzheimer’s Disease

What would you do if you found out that you had inherited a rare form of Alzheimer's that guaranteed you would get the disease in your 40s and die in your 50s? And what would you do if you knew that your children had a 50% chance of inheriting the same disorder? In the case of the DeMoe family in North Dakota, that was the devastating dilemma they faced in 2004. But instead of resigning themselves to their fate, they have become key test subjects in drug trials aimed at solving Alzheimer's disease — a riddle that has confounded science for more than 100 years.

This family’s story is told in The Inheritance: A Family on the Front Lines of the Battle Against Alzheimer’s Disease by Niki Kapsambelis, whose work has appeared in publications around the world, including The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, People, and the Associated Press.

This talk will take you through the journey of the DeMoe family and what they are teaching scientists about the medical pandemic that is Alzheimer's disease: how it forms in its earliest stages, possible forms of treatment, and how ordinary people can become heroes when they face extraordinary circumstances and rise to the occasion.