They provide support and counseling to families and patients who have problems that have been created or aggravated by dementia. The social workers can also provide information about AD and referral to community resources and extended care facilites. Stephanie offers a free monthly support group at MGH for families of patients with memory disorders. There is frequent telephone contact between family members, the Unit coordinator, physician, and social services. These studies are conducted at the Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory at MIT under the direction of Prof. Suzanne Corkin.
Participants are individuals with mild dementia.
These studies are conducted in collaboration with Prof. Suzanne Corkin at MIT and Dr. Gil Gonzalez at the MGH Neuroimaging Center. We also collect information regarding putative environmental risk factors for developing dementia. In association with Drs. In conjunction with Dr. Bradley Hyman, we collect blood from each individual attending the MDU to determine apolipoprotein E genotype. Having the APO e4 allele is a risk factor for developing AD and appears to lower the age of dementia onset.