Honoring Alzheimer's Awareness Month 

with Julie Zissimopoulos, Co-Director


June was Alzheimer’s Disease and Brain Health Awareness month. In honor of this month, the Center for Advancing Sociodemographic and Economic Study of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (CeASES ADRD) raiseawareness about the disease and the millions of people worldwide who are believed to be living with Alzheimer's. New Alzheimer's and cognition research coming out of our Aging and Cognition program is receiving a special feature on the Aging and Cognition website. I encourage those who are interested to apply for our upcoming Science of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias for Social Scientists workshop. The workshop will be held October 27-28. Applications are open on our website until July 29 - more details can be found on our website.


I invite you to join our network of social scientists informing dementia research by connecting with our center. Please visit our website or contact me at Julie.Zissimopoulos@usc.edu or our Program Administrator, Johanna Thunell, at jthunell@usc.edu.

Leah Headshot.jpg

CeASES ADRD-Supported Research


"In a nationwide administrative-register study of nearly two million New Zealand citizens followed for three decades, we found that individuals diagnosed with mental-health disorders were about four times more likely than those without mental-health disorders to subsequently develop dementia. This link was evident across different types of mental disorders and different types of dementia, and after accounting for individuals' histories of physical illness and socioeconomic deprivation. Our findings suggest that investing in good mental-health care for young people might help reduce or delay the burden of dementia in older people." 

-Leah Richmond-Rakerd, PhD

Assistant Professor, University of Michigan

CeASES ADRD Pilot PI


Upcoming Events

Science of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias for Social Scientists. 

On October 27 and 28, the Schaeffer Center will be offering a two-day program where selected social scientists will learn about the biomedical and clinical foundations of ADRD from experts in the field. The conference will explore relevant topics in the ADRD field including biomarkers, microsimulation, and COVID. Applications are available here and will close July 29, 2022.


Past Events

Approval and Reimbursement of Alzheimer's Disease Therapies

Webinar on the regulatory challenges of approving and reimbursing therapies for Alzheimer’s disease. 


Leveraging Alzheimer's Disease Clinical Trial Outcomes in Health Economics Research 

Academic seminar on the implications of clinical trial design on Alzheimer's disease modeling.


Global Projections of Dementia: United States, Ireland, Japan and Mexico 

Seminar on the projections of population-level cognitive impairment and dementia in the US, Ireland, Japan and Mexico.


Estimating the Value of Diagnosis and Treating Alzheimer's Disease

Seminar to discuss the need for affordable diagnostic tests, the challenge of determining the size of the treatment-eligible population, and how innovative payment models would help ensure the healthcare system has the capacity and resources available to treat everyone.


Virtual Stakeholder Workshop: Gaps and Opportunities for Real-World Data

Exploratory workshop held by NIA to learn what gaps exist in current real-world data (RWD) infrastructure and what opportunities lie in expanding availability of RWD for aging related research.



Center News

Eileen-Crimmins_Skalicky-headshot.jpg

Congratulations to Dr. Eileen Crimmins on her election to the Academy of Art and Sciences and for earning the 2022 Provost's Mentoring Award!

We are so proud of our executive committee member, Dr. Eileen Crimmins for her impressive achievements. Dr. Crimmins is an esteemed Professor of Gerontology and a director of three different programs including: USC/UCLA Center on Biodemography and Population Health, The Multidisciplinary Training in Gerontology Program, and the National Institute on Aging-sponsored Network on Biological Risk.


The Unequal Causes and Costs of Dementia 

New evidence based blog by Dr. Thunell and Dr. Zissimopoulos examines how race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status and education affect years lost to dementia. 


Race and Ethnic Differences in the Association Between Alzheimer's Disease Risk and Use of Prescription Medications for Chronic Conditions

Issue brief by Dr. Zissimopoulos, Dr. Thunell, and Dr. Joyce looks at the relationship between the use of widely prescribed drug therapies and Alzheimer's disease and related dementia prevalence. 


Study Finds Older Americans Are Largely Unaware of New Alzheimer's Drug

New study by Dr. Zissimopoulos and Dr. Jacobson provides interesting insight on the limited knowledge elderly Americans have on new drug therapies.


Black-White Differences in Offspring Educational Mobility and Older Parents' Dementia

Dr. Hayward and colleagues discuss emerging research that documents the health benefits of having highly-educated adult offspring.


The Role of Childhood Adversity on Racial/Ethnic Differences of Age-Related Inflammatory Biomarkers

Study by Dr. Hayward and Dr. Farina that examines the "long arm of childhood" for adult health. 


Congratulations to Dr. Deb Umberson for receiving the National Institutes of Health Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award.


Thank you, Dr. Mark Hayward, for serving as the Editor and Chief of Demography!

Recent Publications

Chen, Y., Crimmins, E., Ferido, P., & Zissimopoulos, J. M. (2022). Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Length of Life after Dementia Diagnosis: an 18-Year Follow-up Study of Medicare Beneficiaries. The Lancet Regional Health-Americas8, 100179. 


Cummings, J. L., Goldman, D. P., Simmons‐Stern, N. R., & Ponton, E. (2022). The costs of developing treatments for Alzheimer's disease: A retrospective exploration. Alzheimer's & Dementia18(3), 469-477. 


Jacobson, M., Joe, E., & Zissimopoulos, J. (2022). Barriers to seeking care for memory problems: A vignette study. Alzheimer's & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions8(1), e12238.


Thyagarajan, B., Faul, J., Vivek, S., Kim, J. K., Nikolich-Žugich, J., Weir, D., & Crimmins, E. M. (2022). Age-Related Differences in T-Cell Subsets in a Nationally Representative Sample of People Older Than Age 55: Findings From the Health and Retirement Study. The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences77(5), 927–933. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glab300


Yu, J. C., Tysinger, B. C., Piano Mortari, A., Belotti, F., Ryan, M., Atella, V., & Goldman, D. P. (2022). The Returns to Preventing Chronic Disease in Europe and the United States. Journal of Human Capital16(1), 157-182.

Join our Network of over 200 social scientists from 85 institutions

Contact: Julie Zissimopoulos, PhD, Co-Director, Julie.Zissimopoulos@usc.edu

Johanna Thunell, PhD, Program Administrator, jthunell@usc.edu

Executive Committee

Julie Zissimopoulos, PhD, PI, USC

Dana Goldman, PhD, PI, USC

Mark Hayward, PhD, PI, UT Austin

Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD PI, Stanford


Eileen Crimmins, PhD, Core Director, USC

Jennifer Ailshire, PhD, Core Director, USC

Pinchas Cohen, MD, Advisory, USC

Jennifer Manly, PhD, Advisory, Columbia

Hector Gonzalez, PhD, Advisory, UCSD