Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Dementia with Lewy Bodies, Frontotemporal Dementia, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, will affect millions of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iowans in the coming years. These diseases have no cures or disease-modifying therapies because the mechanisms of neurodegeneration remain unclear. As the population in Iowa skews older, these diseases will likely be a challenge for the state in the coming decades.
UI Health Care is establishing the new Iowa Center for Neurodegeneration to improve treatment of neurodegenerative diseases for underserved rural populations in Iowa and beyond. Housed within the Iowa Neuroscience Institute at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, the new center will be the first-of-its-kind in the state and will integrate basic science and clinical research into a single, collaborative center focused specifically on neurodegenerative diseases.