Progress Despite 2020 Challenges

By Dr. Dale Bredesen, Chief Science Officer for Apollo Health

Many will argue that this is truly a year to skip Thanksgiving — literally and figuratively — with recommendations against congregating, increasing deaths from COVID-19, and an unprecedentedly rocky presidential transition. However, this ignores the monumental progress occurring this year: this year, effective vaccines were developed at a new speed and by a novel method; this year, we are completing the first Alzheimer’s trial in which the actual causes of the cognitive decline are identified and addressed with a precision medicine protocol (and thanks go to three outstanding physicians for their work on this trial: Dr. Ann Hathaway, Dr. Kat Toups, and Dr. Deborah Gordon, as well as the Evanthea Foundation); this year, we replaced generic prevention with a personalized prevention program (PreCODE); and this year, the NIH and the various established entities are finally talking about the multi-factorial nature of Alzheimer’s disease, supporting the trial approach we first proposed a decade ago. 2021 should be a year with less COVID-19 fear, recovery from recession, new job opportunities, and continued march toward a world in which dementia is optional rather than inevitable.

I am thankful that, in 2020, the world has come together, turning crisis into progress.