Dr. Sharon Sha, Neurologist with Stanford University

The number of people with Alzheimer's disease is expected to triple by 2050, despite recent breakthroughs in treatments. Dr. Sharon Shah from Stanford University is part of a documentary series called "Limitless" and is discussing the AHEAD study, which aims to prevent the onset of Alzheimer's by removing a protein called amyloid from the brain. The study is looking for diverse participants and aims to find treatments that work for everyone. Alzheimer's and dementia can affect anyone, regardless of race or gender. The AHEAD study provides hope for caregivers and families affected by the disease. For more information, visit aheadstudy.org. It's Northwest Jersey's own RNJ. Good morning, it's Bert. You've got the RNJ morning program. We have our road report coming up for you in just a little bit. You know, as millions of Americans are currently living with Alzheimer's or other dementias, research shows that the number of people with Alzheimer's disease is expected to nearly triple by the year 2050. And this is all despite recent major breakthroughs in treatments. And my guest who's joining me here this morning with some more information about this, and it's obviously a large and growing health issue, that is really creating a very uncertain future for a lot of people. And my guest who's joining me here at the RNJ morning program, all the way from Stanford University, and maybe you've had a chance to catch her on this documentary series called Limitless, which is featuring Chris Hemsworth. We have Dr. Sharon Shah, who is with me this morning here at RNJ. Dr. Shah, good morning. It's WRNJ Radio in the great state of New Jersey. How are you today? Good morning. I'm great. How are you? I'm doing well. Thank you so much for the time today. I have to ask you first, now that you're in this television series here, Limitless, do you have your own page and profile now, doctor, on the internet movie database that you can brag about? Are you in imdb.com as of yet? I am, and they misspelled my name. Are you kidding me? You've got to get that fixed right away. Apparently there was a strike, and all the actors had to strike recently, and I didn't know I was supposed to. We've got to get that fixed as soon as possible, because I want you to be able to brag that you're on IMDb now. Congratulations on the work that you're doing with this documentary series here, and you're really providing a lot of good insight to people. This is obviously a growing health issue. Millions of Americans are going to be affected by this, Dr. Shah. If they're not already, as a guy who lost his mom to Alzheimer's disease some years ago, this is a personal issue for me. What do people need to know in the decades ahead? We're hearing a lot of it on the news about some progress and some good things, but apparently we've got some work ahead of us, it sounds like. You're very right, and I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your mother. You're right that all of us will be affected, whether personally or family members or friends, and that's why it's really important to spread the word about brain health, and what we can do to slow down and prevent the onset of dementia, or even if you're facing it, what we can do to stay healthy, and what we can do to contribute to research to help understand more about the disease, and particularly find out ways to have treatments to slow down the process. Yeah, there's so much work that we still need to do, Dr. Shah. You're absolutely right, and you're also here today to discuss something called the AHEAD study, and what that can do to help prevent Alzheimer's disease, and also, importantly, treatments that hopefully will work for everybody. What do you want people to know about this AHEAD study? This study is a really unique study where we are looking for people who are age 55 to 80, who have no memory problems, but who are at risk for developing Alzheimer's disease. The way people are determined to be at risk in this specific study is whether they have a protein called amyloid detected in their brain, and that's one of the hallmark features of Alzheimer's disease, and what this study is doing is to try to give a drug to remove amyloid from the brain to prevent the onset of memory loss and dementia. That's really unique in a way to prevent the onset of Alzheimer's disease, and we just really need people to participate. We need diverse populations, people who are worried about their own health, who want to contribute to science, really want to understand the disease process. Those are the people we're looking for. And thank you for mentioning the fact that you're looking for a diverse population for these clinical trials here. Alzheimer's and dementia, it's not a race or gender-specific thing, is it, Dr. Shah? It can really impact anybody, particularly people of an advanced age, regardless of race or or gender, is that correct? You're right. It affects everybody. It tends to affect older people, but we are seeing people who are young, and in my clinic specifically, I'm seeing very young patients. It tends to affect women more than men, but everyone can be affected, and it tends to affect minority populations as well. So we really need people who are representative of this population, women, minorities, older, younger, to really participate in research so that we know that the drugs that we are looking for that can eventually get approved will be right for you specifically. My guest this morning at the RNJ morning program is Dr. Sharon Shah with Stanford University in California, and she's also part of this hit documentary series called Limitless with Chris Hemsworth, if you're a fan of his. I'm sure you've seen the episode or the content with Dr. Shah, and I'm so excited that she's with me here to talk about this very exciting AHEAD study. One of the groups here in in Jersey, Dr. Shah, had told me some time ago that one in two people at one point or another will be impacted by Alzheimer's or dementia, either stricken or you'll be responsible for caring for someone who is stricken. Does that statistic still hold true today and into the future? It does. It's so unfortunate. You're right. So it tends that the percentage of those numbers increase as we age. Just like we expected, you know, dementia tends to affect older adults. And so if you're looking at numbers, you know, above the age of 80, it's really one in two people that can be affected with the disease. And just like you said, caregivers then are also affected. So it's a family disease process. And just like you have experience with your mother, it really affects how we care for our family members, what we have to do to change our lives. So it's really important to recognize, to take care of our brains now when we're healthy, to know how to take care of our brains when we are affected, and to really seek out people to participate in research so we can find those treatments. And if you're interested in AHEAD study, people can go to aheadstudy.org to learn more and find out a site close to you. If you don't live close to Stanford, Palo Alto, like where I work, and you're closer to where you are, people can find out where to participate. Excellent. I think the most difficult thing for me personally, Dr. Shah, was just I had this very helpless sort of feeling. Like there was, I just felt like there was nothing I could do. And I was just watching this this person who at one point in her life was just so so vibrant and so engaged and just so involved with family. And she had a long working career and things. And as I just watched this horrible, horrible affliction just really rob her life away from her, I just had this helpless feeling. So I would not wish this on anybody. So I certainly hope that the AHEAD study is going to make some real progress and just help caregivers, help family members, and even help people with this affliction just manage it a little bit better. That's all I can hope for for people at this point. So I'm certainly hoping that you're on to, maybe on the precipice of something very special here. And I certainly hope so for families really around the country. One more time, Dr. Shah, where can people go to get some more information? Aheadstudy.org. You can learn more. And I feel for you and I hear you. I think this is a study, amongst others, that provides hope for many people like yourself and your mother. All right. Well, Dr. Sharon Shah, thank you for the time this morning. And I will look for you on NatGeo. I'm going to order it up on my my cable and I'm going to binge watch and watch the show and try to learn a few things. And I'll look to spot you in there as well. And I hope that IMDb page gets fixed for you immediately. All right. Thanks so much. Thanks for the time. Have a great day.