Pictured: Staff members at the Hawaiʻi Pacific Neuroscience Center demonstrate the cheek swab.
By Tina Shelton, JABSOM Communications Director
More than 65,000 people in U.S. have enrolled in The Alzheimer’s Prevention Initiative and Gene Match Program, to help researchers trying to cure Alzheimer’s disease. Unfortunately, Hawai’i’s participation in this important initiative, begun in 2015, is lagging behind that of most other states.
The Gene Match program aims to identify people of different genetic backgrounds, so those people contribute to research focusing on the disease among people of similar backgrounds. Taking part is as simple as having your cheek swabbed, and free swab tests are available in Hawai’i at the Clinical Research Center, Hawaiʻi Pacific Neuroscience, located at 2230 Liliha Street in Honolulu.
Free memory testing also is offered by the center, which is led by Adventist Health Castle neuroscientist Kore Kai Liow, MD, Principal Investigator and Clinical Professor of Neurology (Internal Medicine) at the University of Hawaiʻi John Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM). Dr. Liow also heads the Hawaiʻi Pacific Neuroscience Center.
