Retreat Highlights Research, Mentorship and Community Engagement in Alzheimer’s and Dementia Research

The Resource Center for Alzheimer’s and Dementia Research in Asian and Pacific Americans (RCASIA) hosted its annual retreat on Feb. 12–13, 2026, at The Heldrich Hotel in New Brunswick, bringing together researchers, clinicians and trainees from Rutgers, NYU, and other institutions, as well as community leaders from the NJ-NYC area committed to advancing behavioral, social and economic research related to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

Funded by the National Institute on Aging, RCASIA is a collaboration between the Rutgers Center for Healthy Aging Research and New York University. The center is the first NIH-funded center focused on Alzheimer’s and dementia research in New Jersey and the first NIA Resource Center for Minority Aging Research centered on Alzheimer’s and dementia in Asian and Pacific Americans. The center aims to increase the number of scientists focused on Alzheimer’s and dementia research, strengthen pilot studies through data sharing, and serve as a national resource for tools to assess cognition, function and care.

This year’s retreat centered on “Time” as part of an overarching “People, Culture, Place, and Time” theme. The theme underscores the many structural and historical factors that shape brain health and dementia care. “Time” represents historical health-related events in countries of origin and in the U.S.

The retreat opened with remarks and the introduction of Year 3 RCASIA scientists by William Hu, RCASIA MPI, director of the Rutgers Center for Healthy Aging Research, and professor and chief of cognitive neurology at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. On the second day, Dena Schulman-Green, RCASIA Research and Education Core Lead and associate professor at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing, welcomed attendees and also delivered closing remarks.

The program featured keynote addresses by Xuehong Zhang, associate dean of research and professor at the Yale School of Nursing, and Charlotte Yeh, founder of Yeh Innovation and former Chief Medical Officer for AARP Services, Inc. Their presentations added perspectives from public health, clinical research, innovation and healthy aging to the retreat’s interdisciplinary conversations.

Retreat sessions also highlighted RCASIA’s research infrastructure and training model. Presentations highlighted the Community Liaison and Recruitment Core, Analysis and Measurement Core, and the Research Education Core.

A major highlight of the retreat was the presentation of pilot scientist projects addressing dementia risk, caregiving, chronic disease management and social determinants of brain health in Asian American communities. Year 1 and Year 2 pilot scientists presented a wide range of studies including topics such as long-term brain health among older Chinese adults in the U.S.; hospitalization in older adults with dementia and epilepsy; feeding-related decision-making among Chinese American families caring for loved ones with dementia; diabetes care for older Chinese adults with memory challenges; dementia risk among Asians with end-stage kidney disease; social connections and dementia in South Asians; dementia risk across Asian American communities; and the effects of living arrangements and neighborhoods on brain health among older Asian and Latin American adults.

The retreat also spotlighted RCASIA leadership trainees Takashi Amano, Michelle Chen, Karthik Kota, and Yaguang Zheng, reinforcing the center’s emphasis on mentorship and career development for emerging scholars. The event concluded with a Community Advisory Board meeting, reflecting RCASIA’s commitment to keeping research grounded in community priorities and lived experience.

By bringing together investigators across institutions and disciplines, RCASIA’s annual retreat demonstrated the growing momentum behind community-responsive Alzheimer’s and dementia research. As the prevalence of dementia continues to rise, the retreat emphasized the importance of research that centers around language, community partnership and health.