An important goal of the Geriatric Studies Center is to support collaborative research efforts to improve the diagnosis and treatment of dementia. To this end, patients and their families are given the opportunity to take part in a wide variety of clinical research projects. These studies include tests of new treatments for Alzheimer's disease and new procedures to improve the diagnostic accuracy.

Over the past five years patients and their families attending the clinic have helped in the evaluation of 11 new drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. These include tacrine (CognexTM), donepezil (AriceptTM), both of which were subsequently approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. More information about current research studies can be obtained by emailing us at gsc@usc.edu (online email form). A brochure describing the clinical research program is also available upon request.

If you would like to learn more about research (e.g. What is it? How it is conducted?) the National Institutes of Health (NIH) , National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) have produced articles, books and fact sheets about the practice of research. The following links are a few examples of the available literature:

» NIH's Clinical Trails Resource webpage- includes "An Introduction to Clinical Trials"

» "FDA's Drug Review Process: How the Agency Ensures that Drugs are Safe and Effective"  (February 2002)

» "Clinical Trials of Medical Treatments: Why Volunteer?"- An FDA Easy Reader document

For more information please contact:

U.S.C. Geriatric Studies Center
1510 San Pablo Street, Suite 600
Los Angeles, CA. 90033
Phone: (323)442-7600

or send us an email using the online email form.