I think we felt it was really an important project because demographically the number
of Latinos, and specifically older Latinos, the population of older Latinos, is increasing
dramatically.
So I think there is a tremendous need from a public health standpoint to identify the
needs of that community and to prevent cognitive decline, or to provide better services for
those who are afflicted with dementia and other forms of cognitive impairment.
There is a big gap in looking at how Latinos are aging.
There is really an urgent need to understand, for example, how we can prevent cognitive
decline or how we can better assess and intervene early to support older Latinos with dementia,
and also their family care givers.
A lot of the emphasis is on how are we going to create a diverse workforce that would tackle
the issues that Latino older adults are facing.
[sound from woman on screen]
One of the issues that it raised for me is how you effectively communicate across cultures.
Really the cornerstone of our program is reaching out to diverse scholars who are interested
in this area, selecting them and then really trying to mentor and support them in their
careers, especially when they're junior.
For example, as an assistant professors so that they can really become independent researchers
and contribute to the field going forward.
One important thing as we do this work is that we have in joining hands, our Center
-- LARRC -- and leveraging resources in the faculty of the Alzheimer's Disease Center,
of the Center for Reducing Health Disparities, of the School of Nursing, as well as other
centers.
The Clinical and Translational Science Center, and really bring into one package the strengths
from the different entities to have the best possible program.
The Spanish Mini Medical School has been a wonderful opportunity for our scholars.
the Spanish Mini Medical School is held here once a year.
We have a 100-150 older Latinos, and their family members, who attend.
And this event gives our scholars a chance to present their own work to the community
and get feedback.
We have geneticists, we have had health promoters, we have had basic researchers who might be
working not with older adults.
But this provides them with an opportunity to take a look at what the needs are with
older adults.
I think one of the things I'm very encouraged about is the potential to be a resource not
only for UC Davis, but to also be a resource nationally.
I think in the next phase of the development of our Center, we will really try to reach
out more broadly to other institutions to actually nurture and mentor promising junior
scholars, while also focusing here at UC Davis and also with our partners in the Central
Valley.