In late 2024, the NBER launched a Coordinating Center on the Economics of Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Dementias (AD/ADRD) Prevention, Treatment, and Care, codirected by Rhoda Au at Boston University, Julie Bynum at the University of Michigan, and Kathleen McGarry at UCLA.

Funded by a cooperative agreement with the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the Center will coordinate economic research related to a group of diseases that will become increasingly important as the share of the US population over the age of 80 rises in coming decades. Although the age-specific prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease has declined, population aging suggests a growing societal burden for caregivers of those with dementia.

The Center will draw together the research activities of five NIA-funded projects on AD/ADRD at other institutions, and it will also fund ten new projects each year. Half of these projects will be awarded to early career investigators who are developing a research agenda on the economics of ADRD. The research projects that were funded during the Center’s first year may be found on the project webpages. Key findings from Center research will be featured in future issues of this bulletin. The Center advances a research agenda that is also central to another multi-project NBER initiative, also supported by the NIA, on healthcare decision-making and outcomes for people living with Alzheimer's disease.

Au is professor of anatomy and neurobiology, neurology, medicine, and epidemiology at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and School of Public Health, and one of the principal investigators (PIs) of the Framingham Heart Study Brain Aging Program, where she is director of neuropsychology. She is also part of the Diagnostics Accelerator, which strives to fast-track the development of accessible and noninvasive tools to revolutionize AD/ADRD diagnosis and treatment.

Bynum is the Margaret Terpenning Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, and director of the NIA-funded Center to Accelerate Population Research in Alzheimer’s. She is also a PI on an NIH study of healthcare patterns across the full spectrum of cognitive decline, and on a project that studies the provision of long-term services in nursing homes and Medicaid waivers.

McGarry is the chair of the economics department at UCLA and an NBER research associate in the Economics of Aging, Economics of Health, and Public Economics programs. Her research focuses on long-term care expenditures and caregiving relationships and burdens within families. She is currently a principal investigator of the NBER’s project on Healthcare Decision-Making and Outcomes for People Living with Alzheimer's Disease.