The Wayne State University School of Medicine Office of Faculty Affairs & Professional Development welcomes all members of our community to join us for a special interactive discussion.

Learning Objectives:

• Increase provider-patient engagement regarding memory concerns for individuals over the age of 65.
• Broaden clinicians’ awareness regarding dementia stigma.
• Amplify clinicians’ ability to identify dementia stigma.
• Enhance provider care skills for patients with dementia
• Build proficiency regarding best practices for communicating with dementia patients and their families.

Moderator:

Basim Dubaybo, M.D. - Vice Dean of Faculty Affairs 

Guest Speakers:

Kristine Ajrouch, Ph.D., is a Research Professor in the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan where she co-directs the Michigan Center for Contextual Factors in Alzheimer’s Disease (MCCFAD). Her research has focused, for over twenty-five years, on Middle Eastern/Arab American populations (MENA) beginning with ethnic identity formation among adolescent children of immigrants followed by the study of social relations, aging and health.  Dr. Ajrouch’s current work is funded by the National Institute of Aging where she addresses social and behavioral aspects of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). These projects seek to establish prevalence levels of AD among MENA older adults compared to Black and White older adults in the metro-Detroit area by collecting biomarkers, social and cultural data and neuropsychological assessments. She is also leading a project funded by the Michigan Health Endowment Fund to overcome dementia stigma.

Navid Seraji-Bozorgzad, M.D., is an associate professor of neurology in the University of Michigan Medical School.

Dr. Seraji-Bozorgzad began work in the area of medical imaging in 1990 as a research assistant during his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan. He became familiar and developed a fundamental understanding of image acquisition and processing from his work on solid-state imaging arrays. After undergraduate work, he worked in the private sector as a software engineer, designing databases for various companies, including Ford Motor Company and Liberty Mutual Insurance. The work provided him with experience in data mining large datasets.

His passion for medicine eventually led him to medical school. During the application process, he worked in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at Wayne State University, and eventually enrolled in graduate school in neuroscience. While in the Department of Psychiatry, he participated in the use of various MR imaging techniques, including magnetic resonance spectroscopy and functional MRI for diagnosis and disease progression in mood disorders, including bipolar disorder. It was during his graduate studies that he developed an interest in the field of neurodegeneration, regeneration, and neuroprotection.

Dr. Seraji-Bozorgzad's research interest is primarily with non-invasive methods of monitoring disease progression in neurodegenerative disorders, with the ultimate goal of developing a tool set to monitor the efficacy of therapies early on in neurodegenerative disorders.

Wassim Tarraf Ph.D., is an Professor of Gerontology at Wayne State University’s Institute of Gerontology and in the Department of Healthcare Sciences. As a gerontologist, methodologist, and applied statistician the primary focus of his research program is on the aging US population, with a particular focus on cognitive aging. He brings extensive experience researching and evaluating health outcomes, cognitive function and brain biomarkers, and health behavior and investigating the biopsychosocial determinants of health and healthcare among older adults.

He is an investigator on several NIA funded ancillary studies of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) examining sociocultural, cardiovascular, and sleep risk factors for cognitive and brain aging. Additionally, he co-lead the Michigan Center for African American Aging Research Analytics Core (AnC), the Michigan Center for Contextual Factors in Alzheimer’s Disease Community Liaison and Recruitment Core and serve as co-Investigator and mentoring faculty on an NIA resource project focused on Education, Biosocial Pathways, and Dementia across Diverse Populations.