Andrea Gilmore-Bykovskyi selected to co-chair national Dementia Care and Caregiving Research Summit

Andrea Gilmore-Bykovskyi, PhD, RN

The National Research Summit on Care, Services, and Supports for Persons Living with Dementia and their Care Partners/Caregivers (Dementia Care and Caregiving Research Summit) is a nationwide assembly of leaders in aging-related research held by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Andrea Gilmore-Bykovskyi, PhD, RN, Associate Vice Chair of Research and Associate Professor with Tenure at the BerbeeWalsh Department of Emergency Medicine, UW School of Medicine and Public Health, has been selected to co-chair the 2023 Dementia Care and Caregiving Research Summit’s Steering Committee.

“Dr. Gilmore-Bykovskyi’s selection by the NIA/NIH to Chair the 2023 Dementia Care & Caregiving Research Summit reflects the tremendous and lasting impact her inspirational leadership has had on the dementia field,” says Amy J.H. Kind, MD, PhD, associate dean for social health sciences and programs, and professor, Department of Medicine, UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

“Her field-leading research on collaborative innovations in care and health equity for cognitively vulnerable populations is internationally recognized and has profoundly impacted research, policy and clinical practice in the United States. This NIA/NIH leadership role for Dr. Gilmore-Bykovskyi is exceptionally well deserved.”

Joining Dr. Gilmore-Bykovskyi as Steering Committee Co-Chair is Julie Zissimopoulos, PhD, professor in the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California. She is also a Senior Fellow and Director of the Aging and Cognition Research Program, as well as Director of the NIA-funded Center for Advancing Sociodemographic and Economic Study of Alzheimer’s Disease (CeASES ADRD), at USC’s Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics.

The 2023 Summit—the third such assembly since its establishment in 2017—will build on advancements made at prior assemblies to review research progress, highlight innovative and promising research, and identify unmet research needs with input from the research community, persons living with dementia (PLWD) and their care partners, those who provide healthcare or services and supports to persons living with dementia, and other stakeholders. The summit will be held virtually on March 20-22, 2023.

The Dementia Care & Caregiving Research Summit contributes to coordinated planning efforts that respond to the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease and inform updates to the NIH AD+ADRD Research Implementation Milestones that address the National Plan.

Dr. Gilmore-Bykovskyi directs an active program of research focused on promoting effective and equitable care and research for persons living with and at risk for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, with a particular emphasis on addressing the needs of vulnerable populations. She is a founding Deputy Director for the University of Wisconsin Center for Health Disparities Research, as well as Investigator and Informatics Lead in the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.

Her research lab is one of the first to lead large-scale investigations to understand lucid episodes that occur among people living with advanced stages of dementia. Dr. Gilmore-Bykovskyi and her team are currently conducting observations at a hospice facility to capture changes in communication abilities among people living with dementia to detect episodes of lucidity.

“This research is challenging but it is exceptionally meaningful,” says Manish N. Shah, MD, MPH, professor and chair of the BerbeeWalsh Department of Emergency Medicine. “Understanding these episodes of lucidity will help us understand dementia better, as well as support those with dementia and their families.”