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ASB 2011-2012 - A Forgotten Problem: Prevention, Treatment and Policy Perspectives on Alzheimer’s Disease

Basic Information
Application Process: 
ASB 2011-2012
Trip Name: 
A Forgotten Problem: Prevention, Treatment and Policy Perspectives on Alzheimer’s Disease
Trip Location: 
Bay Area, CA
Air Travel Trip: 
No
Number of Participants: 
12
Trip Description: 

“Five minutes later, I won’t remember what you told me.” –William Betancur, 48-year old with symptoms of Alzheimer’s

“It’s a unique disease to the extent that patients can’t lobby for themselves, and the person close to them cannot lobby because they’re home taking care of that person. There are no Alzheimer’s survivors.” -Edward Markey, Congressman

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most pernicious and puzzling brain disorders. Due to its many complexities and ethical considerations, Alzheimer’s serves as an excellent conduit to understanding important perspectives for service in public health. In our directed reading course and spring break trip, we will use Alzheimer’s as a case study for learning how to approach complex public health problems from multiple viewpoints.

Our course and trip will cover four aspects of Alzheimer’s disease, each with important questions that will be addressed by taking advantage of the variety of resources around the Bay Area. One of our primary goals is to give participants a clearer sense of the struggle that patients actually feel and experience during the progression of the disease. Alzheimer’s also represents a significant burden on families, and we hope to explore difficulties and issues that many relatives still face in assuming the responsibility as a full-time caregiver of an Alzheimer’s patient. As technological innovations develop their niche in public health issues, Alzheimer’s also has opened up numerous ethical considerations on genetic testing that need to be addressed. Should we embrace these advances or be wary of the knowledge they may bring? Finally, we will explore the notion of service through engaged scholarship by exposing ourselves to cutting-edge discoveries as researchers attempt to unravel the puzzle.

We hope participants come away from the course and trip both inspired and informed by how they can tackle both Alzheimer’s and any other complex public health issue through activism and service.

Trip Leaders
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Rebecca Johnson

I’m Rebecca, a co-terminal master’s student in Religious Studies, and I completed my undergraduate degree in Psychology with minors in Economics and Religious Studies. I’m passionate about public health issues and wrote my senior thesis on how our stigmatization of mental illness affects support for mental health policy. This year, I’m exploring the ethical dimensions of public health issues with a master’s thesis on prenatal testing for genetically based disorders by looking at how different thinkers in religious and philosophical ethics approach these new advances. This past summer, I was at Yale researching another issue in ethics: the development of moral reasoning in children. Daniel and I met as founders of the Stanford Journal of Public Health, and I’ve also been involved in the Stanford Association for International Development (SAID), Stanford Women in Business (SWIB), and way too many other student groups with 4-letter acronyms. In my spare time, I love reading dystopian novels, watching documentaries, and going to outdoor music festivals.

Daniel Bui

Hey! My name is Daniel, and I’m a senior at Stanford majoring in Human Biology. My passions primarily find themselves wrapped around finding new, innovative solutions to public health issues. Because of its many nuances and complexities as a disease, I think that Alzheimer’s becomes a great lens through which to explore important topics in public health and service. When I’m not thinking about cool things to do on our awesome ASB trip, you can likely find me doing stuff for the Stanford Journal of Public Health (where I met Becky!), working as a Student Advisor for HumBio in the SA Office, or making tiny electronic chips detect bladder cancer in a lab at the Medical School for my honors thesis. I’m also really passionate about working in rural communities, so I serve as an interpreter for Vietnamese patients at Pacific Free Clinic. My favorite TV show is Modern Family, my favorite band is Coldplay, and my favorite book is currently a tie between Pride and Prejudice and Catcher in the Rye.