The Resource Center for Alzheimer’s and Dementia Research in Asian and Pacific Americans (RCASIA) awarded four pilot grants to researchers to study the health of Asian older adults. Michelle Chen and Brad Kamitaki of Rutgers University and Yaolin Pei and Yaguang Zheng of New York University (NYU) will each receive grants of $50,000 to support their research over the course of a year.

With funding from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research developed RCASIA in collaboration with NYU. The center’s goal is to use the $4.2 million grant to advance behavioral, social and economic research related to Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias especially in older Asian and Pacific Americans. RCASIA is the first NIH-funded center focused on Alzheimer’s and dementia research in New Jersey and the first of the NIA Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) centers focused on Alzheimer’s and dementia in Asian and Pacific Americans.

Information on the next call for pilot grant applications will be available online at https://rcasia.rutgers.edu/call-for-pilot/

Pilot Scientists:

Michelle Chen, PhD

Faculty member, Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research
Assistant Professor of Neurology, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Primary Mentor: William T. Hu, MD PhD

Project: Longitudinal cognitive trajectories in older U.S. Chinese: dissociating racial, cultural, and environmental influences

Brad Kamitaki, MD

Assistant Professor of Neurology, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Primary Mentor: Joel Cantor, ScD

Project: Improving health outcomes for Asian Americans with Co-occurring epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias

Yaolin Pei, PhD

Research Scientist, NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing
Primary Mentor: Bei Wu, PhD

Project: A qualitative study to inform the cultural adaptation of an existing decision aid intervention for Chinese American dementia caregivers in feeding-related decision-making

Yaguang Zheng, PhD, RN

Assistant Professor, NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing
Primary Mentor: Bei Wu, PhD

Project: Leveraging continuous glucose monitoring to reduce care burden for older Chinese Americans with Type 2 diabetes and mild AD/ADRD