BIO 98 — Understanding Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia
Quarter: Winter
Instructor(s): Victor W. Henderson
Date(s): Jan 28—Mar 11
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Tuesdays
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Class Meeting Time: 7:00—8:50 pm (PT)
Tuition: $420
Refund Deadline: Jan 30
Unit(s): 1
Status: Registration opens Dec 2, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Winter
Day: Tuesdays
Duration: 7 weeks
Time: 7:00—8:50 pm (PT)
Date(s): Jan 28—Mar 11
Unit(s): 1
Tuition: $420
Refund Deadline: Jan 30
Instructor(s): Victor W. Henderson
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Registration opens Dec 2, 8:30 am (PT)
Gen Xers, millennials, and boomers cite Alzheimer’s disease as an overriding concern for the years ahead. It is a tsunami that already affects over 6 million Americans. Many things change as we transition into middle age and older adulthood, including memory and other mental abilities. Large declines in memory and cognition are referred to as dementia, and the leading cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. Although Alzheimer’s is largely an illness of old age, biochemical changes precede clinical symptoms by well over a decade. Featuring faculty from the Stanford Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, funded by the National Institute on Aging, this course provides an in-depth overview of cognitive changes over the normal lifespan and reviews evolving concepts of mild cognitive impairment and dementia. We will look at what Alzheimer’s disease is and is not, what parts of the brain are affected, and why the disorder sometimes runs in families. We will consider differences between normal cognitive aging and dementia, and we will compare and contrast Alzheimer’s disease with other disorders that cause dementia, such as Lewy body disease, frontotemporal dementia, vascular dementia, and traumatic brain injury. We will address modern approaches to diagnosis and treatment, new therapies, and potential preventive strategies. The course will include a live demonstration of diseased brain specimens.
Knowledge of freshman-level biology is recommended.
VICTOR W. HENDERSON
Professor of Epidemiology & Population Health and of Neurology & Neurological Sciences, Stanford
Victor Henderson’s research focuses on risk factors for cognitive aging and dementia and on interventions to help prevent and treat these disorders. He directs the Stanford Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and co-directs the master’s program in epidemiology and clinical research. He is an Honorary Skou Professor of Neurology at Denmark's Aarhus University. Henderson received an MD from Johns Hopkins and trained at Duke, Washington University, Boston University, and the University of Washington. Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.