The Age of Alzheimer’s

Casa Wellness: The Age of Alzheimer’s is made possible with support from Mr. and Mrs. Eddie and Maggie Chang.

Frank M. LaFerla, Ph.D., is the Hana and Francisco J. Ayala dean of the Francisco J. Ayala School of Biological Sciences and a Chancellor’s Professor of neurobiology and behavior. He joined the faculty of UC Irvine in 1995 and since then has served in several administrative roles, including as the founding director of the campus-wide neuroscience graduate program, chair of the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, and director of the Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND).

In addition to his duties as dean, he is also the director of the National Institutes of Health-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, a national center of excellence for dementia.

For the majority of his academic career, LaFerla has focused his research on understanding the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease and other forms of dementia. His scholarly work has had a global influence on the field, as some of the models that his lab has generated have been distributed to 150+ researchers in over 20 countries throughout the world. He has published over 200 original peer-reviewed articles and has been listed among the top 1 percent cited researchers in his field.

Learn about why Alzheimer’s Disease happens and who it affects, what science is doing to combat the disease, and simple tips for prevention in this thought-provoking Casa Wellness lecture.