The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and Trinity College Dublin announced on Monday, Nov. 16 that it received $177 million from billionaire philanthropist Charles "Chuck" Feeney to boost the fight against dementia.
The Atlantic Philanthropies, the group founded by Feeney in 1982, awarded the two universities with the said multi-year grant to build Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) and target issues on aging all around the world, particularly emphasizing the prevention of dementia rise.
The problem
Although majority of dementia cases are genetic in nature and some are caused by multiple factors, research says that up to about 30 percent of cases may be prevented by lifestyle and public health interventions.
The plan
The two universities will form GBHI and work for more than 15 years to train about 600 international leaders with different skills that focus on aging issues. Behavioral neurologist Bruce Miller from UCSF said they want to prepare leaders, not just in public policy and medicine but in other fields as well, including social sciences, law, business, journalism and the arts.
"That way, we can help change the course of this disease and protect vulnerable people around the world," said Miller.
The impact
The donation made by the group is said to be the biggest project that Atlantic has ever made to date and inculcates the commitment of Feeney and the organization towards supporting global problems by making significant and bold efforts that will benefit future generations.
The donation will amp up studies about the brain, which, according to initiative leader and UCSF professor Kristine Yaffe, is something very complex that diseases involving it such as dementia need to be studied at different angles.
Although new medicines will be essential, other approaches will also help. Yaffe further explained that there are increasing evidences saying that some factors such as educational attainment, physical activity and cardiovascular health, can help delay dementia. Through Feeney's grant, these approaches may be better looked at.
As per Alzheimer's Research U.K., an organization not involved in the programs, research has the power to build a world that is free from the harm, fear and heartbreak of dementia.
Approximately 50 percent of the scholars will come from the United States and Ireland, and the remaining 50 percent will come from all over the world. The trainees will be encouraged to return to their homelands, lead their nations and instigate changes in medicine, nursing, health policy and social sciences.
Putting the programs at an international level ultimately establishes its widespread impact all over the world.
