Despite volunteering and working out at the gym several days each week, socializing frequently with friends and family, reading all manner of books and doing daily crossword puzzles, 85-year-old Carol Siegler is restless. “I’m bored. I feel like a Corvette being used as a grocery cart,” said Siegler, who lives in the Chicago suburb of Palatine.

Siegler is a cognitive “SuperAger,” possessing a brain as sharp as people 20 to 30 years younger. She is part of an elite group enrolled in the Northwestern SuperAging Research Program, which has been studying the elderly with superior memories for 14 years. The program is part of the Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

Additionally, Dr. Emily Rogalsksi, Associate Director of the Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease at Northwestern University, appeared on the November 28 edition of CNN This Morning to discuss the Northwestern SuperAging Research Program.

The Mesulam Center would like to thank all Mesulam Center faculty, staff, and community partners, for their participation in community engagement events this year. We participated in 37 local educational community events and 31 meetings with community organizations. These efforts reached 1,155 community members and included senior health fairs, community resource fairs, memory cafés (in-person and virtual), dementia friends’ presentations, brain health and fitness programs, Alzheimer's Disease community forums, farmers markets, and lunch and listen programs to learn from community members. 

A special thank you to Mesulam Center members: Maureen Daly, Janessa Engelmeyer, Allison Lapins, Malik Nassan, and Kate O’Neil for being a part of our community engagement efforts.  

We would also like to thank our amazing community partners: South Loop Village, Rosenwald Court Senior Apartments, Oakwood Shores Senior Apartments, Senior Suites Central Station, First District Chicago Police Department Senior Sub Committee, Hall Branch Chicago Public Library, Dementia Friendly Washington Heights, Woodson Regional Chicago Public Library, Far South Chicago Coalition, Southeast Chicago Commission, 23rd place and Southbridge, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, SHARE Network, and DISCO. We appreciate your partnership in bringing equity of access to and trust in the advancement of medical science and raising dementia awareness and knowledge in Chicago communities.  

Wishing you and your families a happy holiday season!  

Phyllis Timpo, Nicole Hunt, Darby Morhardt, and Emily Rogalski

Experimental Drug Slows Alzheimer’s But Can It Make a Real Difference?

An experimental Alzheimer’s drug modestly slowed the brain disease’s inevitable worsening — but the anxiously awaited new data leaves unclear how much difference that might make in people’s lives. Ian Grant, MD, joined Chicago Tonight to discuss Alzheimer's Disease and the potential implications of Lecanemab.