The National Institutes of Health has awarded Wake Forest University School of Medicine $22.5 million to continue the work of its Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) for another five years, the Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based school announced on October 6, 2026. The award, through the NIH’s National Institute on Aging, is the center’s second renewal and comes as it marks a decade of advancing Alzheimer’s research.
“This renewal gives us an exciting opportunity to build on a decade of research and discovery and move closer to our goal of helping people maintain healthy brains as they age,” said Suzanne Craft, Ph.D., professor of gerontology and geriatric medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and founding director of the center. “By understanding the factors that put people at risk and identifying changes as early as possible, we hope to develop better ways to diagnose, prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease.”
Studying How Everyday Health Shapes Brain Health
The ADRC is one of 37 centers in a national network dedicated to Alzheimer’s disease research. Its researchers study how common health conditions and lifestyle factors, including obesity, physical inactivity, diabetes, and high blood pressure, may increase the risk of cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. The center supports more than 160 grants focused on new approaches to diagnosing, preventing, and treating the disease, and its research resources include data and biological samples from more than 1,000 participants, available to School of Medicine and Advocate Health researchers.
From Research to Primary Care
Center researchers have developed new screening methods to identify early cognitive impairment, a stage when treatment may be more effective for some patients. Those methods have been put into practice in Advocate Health primary care clinics through a partnership with MindCare365™, an Alzheimer’s Association-funded initiative that helps primary care providers identify patients at risk for mild cognitive impairment through assessments, blood work, and virtual visits that inform a care plan.
Engaging the Community
The center also emphasizes education and community involvement. Over the past year it held more than 75 educational events, many virtual, where patients and the public, particularly people experiencing mild changes in memory or thinking, can learn about participating in the ADRC Healthy Brain Study and other center-affiliated clinical trials. The Healthy Brain Study follows older adults over time to identify risk factors.
A Decade of NIH Support
The ADRC was established in 2016 with a multimillion-dollar grant and renewed for $15.2 million in 2021, leading to this latest renewal. More than 1,000 community members have participated in the center since its founding. The research is supported by the National Institute on Aging under Award Number P30AG072947.
About Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Wake Forest University School of Medicine is the academic core of Charlotte-based Advocate Health and directs the education of nearly 1,900 students and fellows. The school has two campuses, each co-located with a life sciences innovation district: The Pearl in Charlotte and Innovation Quarter in Winston-Salem.
