Glenn Smith
University of Florida, FL·Medicine & Clinical Research
Much of what is known about Alzheimer's disease (AD) comes from studies of non-Hispanic White people. This includes how the disease progresses, what raises the risk of memory decline, and how patients respond to treatment.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Neuroscience
Public Health & Epidemiology
- Topics
Alzheimer's disease
dementia
cognitive decline
- Grants
- 1 known grant, last ended Aug 2026
What they work on
- Complete 230 planned longitudinal follow-up visits with harmonized assessments across 1Florida ADRC sites and provide the data to the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (NACC).
- Consent Black, Hispanic and non-Hispanic White participants into the Neuropathology Core Brain Bank, which preserves brains for study, to investigate Alzheimer's co-pathologies across groups.
- Share participant data and biospecimens with research projects, the national repository NCRAD, and qualified investigators to support research on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
More about the research
Some studies suggest that dementia is more common among Black, Hispanic and other underrepresented groups, but it is unclear how broadly those findings apply. Florida, with about one million people living with Alzheimer's and related dementias, is a diverse state well placed to address this gap.
Why it matters
Diverse participant data, biospecimens and brain donations could help researchers learn whether Alzheimer's risk factors, disease course and treatment responses differ among Black, Hispanic and non-Hispanic White older adults. That knowledge could make dementia research and care more applicable to the many diverse communities affected by Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Pablo Martinez Amezcua
Johns Hopkins University, MD·Public Health & Epidemiology
Examine whether the association between hearing loss and cognitive decline over about six years in Hispanic adults differs by language acculturation, using HCHS/SOL data.
David Geldmacher
University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL·Neuroscience
Enroll and follow about 525 community volunteers each year, cognitively unimpaired, with mild cognitive impairment or with mild dementia, at least 40% Black or African American, using standard national tests plus social determinants of health, body composition and actigraphy measures.
Joshua Grill
University of California-Irvine, CA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Compare traditional and modern strategies for recruiting people into Alzheimer's research registries, focusing on whether they enroll and retain participants from the most disadvantaged neighborhoods.
The school
University of Florida: 65 labs on PI Pages, $1.3B a year on research, 795 research doctorates a year.
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