Lynn Friss Feinberg

Advancing Alzheimer's disease diagnosis, treatment, and care: Recommendations from the Ware Invitational Summit

To address the pending public health crisis due to Alzheimers disease (AD) and related neurodegenerative disorders, the Marian S. Ware Alzheimer Program at the University of Pennsylvania held a meeting entitled “State of the Science Conference on the Advancement of Alzheimers Diagnosis, Treatment and Care,” on June 21‐22, 2012. The meeting comprised four workgroups focusing on Biomarkers; Clinical Care and Health Services Research; Drug Development; and Health Economics, Policy, and Ethics. The workgroups shared, discussed, and compiled an integrated set of priorities, recommendations, and action plans, which are presented in this article.

Supporting family caregivers of older Americans

A National Academies committee has published a report raising serious concern about the state of family caregiving for older adults in the United States and recommending new policies and practices to make the delivery of person- and family-centered care a reality.

The Escalating Complexity of Family Caregiving: Meeting the Challenge

The escalating complexity of family caregiving today is all too familiar to American families struggling to provide care for an aging relative or friend. This chapter describes the increasing complexity of family care from the perspective of two emerging trends: (i) family caregivers are now providing medical/nursing tasks at home that were once provided only in hospitals and nursing homes, and by healthcare professionals, and (ii) more family caregivers are in the labor force, juggling demands to balance work, caregiving, and other family responsibilities. Public policies and practices can help to address these challenges if we begin now to lay the foundation for a better system of family support in the future.