The Association committed a milestone $100 million in total annual research spending, the largest allocation since the organization's founding, including more than $74 million in grants for new scientific investigations. These grants represent proposals ranked highest by a three-tier peer-review process in a highly competitive field. As the world's leading nonprofit funder of Alzheimer's and dementia research, the Association currently has more than $405 million invested in over 1,100 active projects in 56 countries spanning six continents. The Association's commitment to research is critical in the new era of treatment by advancing projects that drive us toward more effective therapies for all populations impacted by Alzheimer's and other dementia.

The Association continues to drive the diversification of clinical trials through the Part the Cloud global research grant program. In FY23, Part the Cloud provided over $4.75 million to move forward five new high-risk, high-reward studies aimed at potential treatments. The continued success of Part the Cloud is due to the drive and vision of philanthropist and longtime Alzheimer's Association champion Mikey Hoag; since Hoag founded Part the Cloud in 2012, the program has funded 65 studies that have generated more than $1.3 billion in follow-on funding.

The landmark Association-led U.S. POINTER study continues to work to better understand the relationship between lifestyle interventions and dementia risk. With recruitment complete, more than 2,000 people are enrolled via study sites in Chicago (Advocate Health Care, Rush University Medical Center), Houston (Baylor College of Medicine in collaboration with Kelsey Seybold Foundation), Providence, Rhode Island (Butler Hospital in collaboration with LifeSpan), Sacramento, California (UC Davis School of Medicine), and Winston-Salem, North Carolina (Wake Forest School of Medicine), and over 30% of participants are from historically underrepresented populations. The Association has invested over $45 million in U.S. POINTER, and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) has made four awards expected to total up to nearly $65 million for add-on studies, bringing the total amount invested to more than $110 million.

The Association supported recruitment and retention activities for the Longitudinal Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease Study (LEADS), a two-year observational study designed to understand the genetic, biological and clinical processes involved in younger-onset (or early-onset) Alzheimer's disease — defined as when symptoms develop before age 65. The study currently follows 672 people at 18 U.S. sites. The Association launched a LEADS Diversity Recruitment Funding Program to support community-based recruitment efforts aimed at enrolling participants from historically underrepresented populations and a family meeting to support individuals and families by offering presentations, panel discussions and resources. 

The Association has been a funder of the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) since its advent in 2004 but took on a new role as convener of the Private Partner Scientific Board (PPSB) in FY23. The new ADNI grant will fund a five-year extension of the study, termed ADNI4. ADNI's goal has been to validate biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease clinical trials and in its several incarnations has had a major impact on Alzheimer's research and clinical trials, yielding more than 4,500 scientific publications. There are currently 28 members of the ADNI4 PPSB, who provide needed insight and guidance to the ADNI investigators, fund research projects and participate in working groups that parallel key focus areas of ADNI.

The Association and the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation announced the establishment of the Fred A. Erb Clinical Research Science Fellowships. These fellowships will support career advancement for 10 outstanding clinician scientists over the next five years to help expand and strengthen the field and move closer to effectively treating and preventing Alzheimer's and all other dementia.

The Association continued to provide leadership and support for New IDEAS: Imaging Dementia — Evidence for Amyloid Scanning Study, alongside the American College of Radiology (ACR), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and recruitment experts from Vanderbilt University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This study is enrolling 7,000 Medicare beneficiaries of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds — at least 4,000 of whom will be Black/African American or Latino/Hispanic-identifying — to receive amyloid PET brain imaging that can measure the buildup of abnormal amyloid protein in the brain, one of the key hallmarks of Alzheimer's. The New IDEAS Biorepository, funded by the Association, will advance the science of blood-based tests for Alzheimer's and all other dementia.

The Alzheimer's Association International Conference® (AAIC®), the largest forum to advance dementia science, is where top researchers from across the globe meet to share discoveries and collaborate. Over 9,500 members of the dementia research community convened at AAIC 2022 in San Diego and online, including more than 4,500 in person. Groundbreaking research presented at AAIC 2022 included findings on the impact of structural, interpersonal and institutional racism on cognitive decline; a correlation between hypertensive disorders during pregnancy and increased risk of dementia; the impact of COVID-19 smell loss on long-lasting cognitive problems; a link between ultraprocessed foods and cognitive decline; and a variety of updates on advancements in treatments and clinical trials.

The Association continued to expand its global reach through a growing portfolio of scientific meetings. The NIA and the Association supported the 5th Annual NIA-AA Symposium on Enabling Precision Medicine for Alzheimer's Disease Through Open Science as part of AAIC 2022 preconference offerings. Convening over 200 members of the research community, the meeting was a valuable opportunity to learn and share developments in precision medicine principles and open science practices.

The virtual AAIC Neuroscience Next showcased the work of neuroscience students, postdoctoral researchers and early career research professionals worldwide in a unique "hybrid hub" model. More than 2,600 registrants from 93 countries gathered online to learn from and support the next generation of researchers.

The AAIC Satellite Symposium brought together nearly 700 researchers from 54 countries in Mexico City and online to discuss research advances in public health, diagnosis and treatment within Latin America. Over 53% of attendees were based in low- and middle-income countries.

The Association convened the AAIC Advancements: APOE and AAIC Advancements: Immunity conferences, which assembled more than 850 scientists from 54 countries and 600 scientists from 46 countries, respectively. Attendees shared the latest research findings and ideas about the roles of APOE, a gene known to influence risk, and immunity in Alzheimer's and all other dementia.

The Dementia and Brain Ageing in Low- and Middle-Income Countries symposium, made possible by an NIA grant, was hosted in collaboration with Newcastle University, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), the World Federation of Neurology's Aphasia, Dementia and Cognitive Disorders Specialty Group, the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO), AgeCap Sweden and the African Dementia Consortium (AfDC) in Nairobi, Kenya. Over 330 individuals from 53 countries registered for the event, with 69% based in low- and middle-income countries.

The Association, the American College of Radiology, the American Society of Neuroradiology, the Department of Biostatistics, Brown University School of Public Health, the Critical Path Institute and the ALZ-NET Project Team, along with other clinical research experts, launched the Alzheimer's Network for Treatment and Diagnostics (ALZ-NET). Led by the Association, which provided the initial funding, ALZ-NET is designed to collect routine clinical practice data from health care professionals caring for people living with Alzheimer's who are taking an FDA-approved disease-modifying treatment, with a goal of quickly and transparently sharing data and outcomes. ALZ-NET has over 100 clinical sites in various stages of the startup process and is also aligning with international registry efforts across 11 other countries.

The Alzheimer's Association Global Workgroup released consensus appropriate use recommendations for blood-based biomarkers (BBMs) in the clinic and in research trials. The workgroup also defined both short- and long-term research priorities needed to fill significant knowledge gaps that still exist, such as how well BBMs work in diverse communities and in those living with multiple health conditions.

The Association announced an investment of $10.85 million to the EQT Life Sciences' LSP Dementia Fund, an international venture capital fund that invests in companies developing promising, high-impact treatments for Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. In another example of how the Association is accelerating innovation in dementia research, the commitment expands its funding into broader and varied areas of drug development to advance and diversify the research pipeline and available treatments for people living with Alzheimer's or another dementia.

The Alzheimer's Association Interdisciplinary Summer Research Institute provides an immersive, no-cost opportunity for early career researchers in psychosocial care and public health to launch a career in dementia science and accelerate breakthroughs. Throughout the five-day program in FY23, which featured faculty from the Association, attendees learned from experts through group sessions and individual mentoring.

TrialMatch® is the Association's free service offering customized lists of clinical studies based on user-provided information. The TrialMatch database has over 370,000 users and includes more than 700 clinical trials, including international studies and locations. In FY23, TrialMatch had more than 27,000 sessions, over 4,200 web-based referrals and nearly 4,900 calls supporting over 700 studies, including New IDEAS and LEADS. A text-to-join feature was introduced to allow for greater accessibility to constituents.

The Alzheimer's Association Research Roundtable engages scientists from the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, diagnostics, imaging and cognitive testing industries worldwide in a precompetitive platform to discuss key areas in Alzheimer's science, with a mission of advancing the research, development and management of new treatments. The roundtable consisted of more than 20 member companies in FY23.

For the eighth year, the Alzheimer's Association Business Consortium (AABC) continued to advance Alzheimer's and dementia research through innovation by small, startup biotechnology, diagnostic and contract research organizations. The AABC works to achieve its goals by focusing on areas of common interest to advance the field as well as the goals of its more than 60 member companies.

The Alzheimer's Association International Society to Advance Alzheimer's Research and Treatment (ISTAART) is an inclusive global network of over 10,000 scientists, clinicians and dementia professionals in more than 120 countries. In FY23, the percentage of members based in low- and middle-income countries rose from 11% to 20%, and the number of professional interest areas (PIAs) — subgroups of researchers who share common scientific interests — grew to 30. PIAs engaged with their members through 154 webinars and networking sessions, which received over 8,500 live views; published 16 journal articles, including seven in the Alzheimer's & Dementia® journal family; and contributed 21 featured research sessions to AAIC 2022. In addition, the ISTAART Ambassador program continued to build awareness of ISTAART activities, delivering the "Introduction to ISTAART" presentation more than 40 times to over 1,600 scientists, clinicians and dementia professionals worldwide.

Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association is the leading peer-reviewed monthly scientific journal in Alzheimer's and dementia. The publication's 2023 impact factor, a measure of how many times another researcher references a publication's articles and therefore its influence in the scientific community, led this flagship publication to be the top-ranked disease-specific journal in clinical neurology and fourth overall. Two open-access sister journals — Diagnosis, Assessment and Disease Monitoring (DADM) and Translational Research & Clinical Interventions (TRCI) — also saw continued growth in influence. 
 
Funded by the Association, GAAIN is the first online platform to provide free, instant access to data normally restricted to a handful of Alzheimer's researchers, uniting a diverse and geographically distributed network of partners to foster discovery, collaboration and sharing. With more than 36,000 unique data attributes linking together over 60 research studies with over 575,000 participants, GAAIN serves as a one-of-a-kind resource for the global Alzheimer's and dementia community.