Cynthia Carlsson, MD, MS, professor, Geriatrics and Gerontology, director of the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Institute and clinical core leader of the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (pictured above), was appointed to a four-year term on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research, Care, and Services. 

The Advisory Council makes recommendations to HHS for priority actions to expand, coordinate, and condense programs in order to improve the health outcomes of people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD)—and reduce the financial burden of these conditions on those with the diseases, their families, and society. 

Dr. Carlsson is one of 12 non-federal members of the council. Other non-federal members include patient advocates, caregivers, health care providers, state health department representatives, researchers and voluntary health association representatives—all of whom have AD/ADRD expertise.

The council also includes 11 federal members representing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Administration on Aging, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Indian Health Service, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Food and Drug Administration and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. 

The council was created as part of the National Alzheimer's Project Act (NAPA), which itself is an opportunity to build upon and leverage HHS programs and other federal efforts to help change the trajectory of AD/ADRD.