The Rutgers-NYU Resource Center for Alzheimer’s and Dementia Research in Asian and Pacific Americans (RCASIA) hosted its annual retreat on February 7-8, 2025, at the NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. RCASIA and its retreat represent a joining of forces by experts in Alzheimer’s and related dementias-related behavioral, social, and economic research.

With funding from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research developed RCASIA in collaboration with NYU to advance behavioral, social, and economic research related to Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, especially in older Asian and Pacific Americans. RCASIA is the first NIH-funded center focused on Alzheimer’s and dementia research in New Jersey and the first of the NIA Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) centers focused on Alzheimer’s and dementia in Asian and Pacific Americans.

The center’s theme is “People, Culture, Place and Time,” with this year’s retreat focusing on “Place”. This reflects the center leadership’s expertise in health disparities, linguistic and culturally appropriate cognitive neuroscience, NJ/NYC-based Asian American behavioral and cultural issues, care and care partner-related research, and longitudinal health and cognition studies.

The event featured the following programs:

Richard Lui, MSNBC/NBC News Anchor, civil rights reporter, author and filmmaker, delivered a keynote address on caregiving and mental health.

Richard Lui and RCASIA Core faculty: Bei Wu (PI), Simona Kwon, William Hu (PI), Mary Mittelman, Keith Chan, Cui Yang

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Hae-Ra Han, Professor and Elsie M. Lawler Endowed Chair at Johns Hopkins University, delivered a keynote address on preparing for healthy aging through literacy and navigation.

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Welcoming and closing remarks by RCASIA M-PI’s William Hu, Associate Professor and Chief of Cognitive Neurology at Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Director of the Center for Healthy Aging Research at the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research, and Bei Wu, Dean’s Professor in Global Health and Vice Dean of Research at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing.

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RCASIA Research Scientist presentations by Yaguang Zheng of NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing and Yaolin Pei of the School of Nursing at The University of Texas at Austin.

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Center Core updates and discussions:

• Research Education Core
  • Mary Mittelman of NYU Grossman School of Medicine

• Analysis and Measurement Core
  • Jaclyn Schess of UC Berkeley School of Public Health
  • Stephanie Shiau of Rutgers School of Public Health
  • Stephen Crystal of Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research

• Community Liaison and Recruitment Core
  • Simona Kwon of NYU Grossman School of Medicine
  • Keith Chan of Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College
  • Emerson Ea of New York City College of Technology at City University of New York

Responsible Conduct in Research seminar led by RCASIA Leadership Trainees:

• Darina Petrovsky of Duke University
• Tina Sadarangani of New York University
• Jasmine Travers of NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing

Poster presentations by RCASIA Year 1 Pilot Scientists including:

• “Improving Health Outcomes for Asian Americans with Epilepsy and Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias” – Brad Kamitaki, Assistant Professor of Neurology, Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
• “A qualitative study to inform the cultural adaptation of an existing decision aid intervention for Chinese American dementia caregivers in feeding-related decision-making” – Yaolin Pei, Research Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, The University of Texas at Austin
• “Leveraging Continuous Glucose Monitoring to Reduce Care Burden for Older Chinese Americans with Type 2 Diabetes and Mild AD/ADRD” – Yaguang Zheng, Assistant Professor, NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing
• “Longitudinal cognitive trajectories in older U.S. Chinese: dissociating racial, cultural and environmental influences” – Michelle Chen, Assistant Professor of Neurology, Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research

Poster presentations by RCASIA Year 2 Pilot Scientists including:

• “Social networks and determinants of health behaviors in South Asians with ADRDs” – Gian Pal, Associate Professor, Rutgers Health
• “Impact of Cultural Factors on Incident Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease in Asian End-Stage Kidney Disease Patients” – Nidhi Ghildayal, Senior Research Scientist, NYU Langone
• “Living Arrangements, Neighborhoods, and Cognitive Aging among Older Asian and Latin American Adults” – Qian Song, Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts Boston
• “Investigating the Heterogeneity in Dementia Prevalence and Associated Social Determinants of Health across Asian American Subgroups in the All of Us Research Program” – Xiang Qi, Assistant Professor, NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing

Thank you to everyone who attended! Looking forward to the RCASIA Annual Retreat 2026!