Elaine Souder,
PhD, RN, Professor

My research interests has focused on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) over the past years.  I currently direct the Education Core of the UAMS Alzheimer’s Disease Center (ADC), one of 29 Centers funded by the National Institutes of Health & Aging.  In the last several years, the issue of under representation of African Americans in Alzheimer’s Disease research has been highlighted nationally.  It is important to increase participation of African Americans in AD research since they have a higher prevalence of the disease than Caucasians, and AD may affect them differently, and their response to medications may vary.  The UAMS ADC is committed to working on sensitive and effective recruiting approaches that result in enrollment of African Americans in our Center. To that end, we have trained a lay educator to do presentations in the black community, and are collecting data on the efficacy of this approach.