Beth Marks and Jasmina Sisirak awarded $250,000 for Year 6 Supplement to Support the Implementation of the National Healthy Brain Initiative for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Introduction
Beth Marks (PI) and Jasmina Sisirak (Co-PI) have recently received Year 6 funding through the CDC’s National Healthy Brain Initiative to support implementation of the Healthy Brain Initiative for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (HBI-PwIDD). As part of the CDC’s Healthy Brain Initiative, HBI-PwIDD seeks to promote brain health and to address stigma, underdiagnosis, and disparities in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias among people with intellectual and developmental disabilities through disability-affirming public health approaches.
In Year 6, the focus will be on expanding the dissemination of culturally inclusive resources, refining brain health guidelines for providers, and continued scaling of the HealthMatters Program and the HealthAdvocacy Program to strengthen caregiving support and foster brain health promotion.
HBI-PwIDD is a Component B project within a robust, interconnected network. This network includes the Alzheimer’s Association (Component A), Component B organizations focused on populations heavily burdened by Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (UsAgainstAlzheimer’s, The International Association for Indigenous Aging, and the UIC HealthMatters Program), and 43 state, local, territorial, and tribal recipients of the CDC’s BOLD Infrastructure Public Health Program.