EU-FINGERS Consortium, funded by JPND, kicked off in 2020 with the aim of advancing preventive strategies for risk reduction and prevention of cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s dementia. An important outcome of this consortium will be the “Multimodal Precision Prevention Toolbox”. This Toolbox will include different tools enabling the next generation of clinical trials, to identify precision prevention strategies for Alzheimer’s dementia. Precision Medicine takes into account individual characteristics, in terms of biology, lifestyle and environment, to optimize disease treatment and prevention.
EU-FINGERS set up an Advisory Board in January 2021 composed of people affected by or with an interest in Alzheimer’s disease and brain health. The Advisory Board has been very active during the months of February and March. Members of the Advisory Board were split in three smaller groups and met online on 25 February and 3 March. In the e-meetings*, members discussed the terminology which is often used to refer to prevention, the relevance of this type of research and interventions for people affected by the condition, and the main barriers and facilitators for participating in prevention initiatives. The discussions were co-facilitated by Ana Diaz (Alzheimer Europe) and Francesca Mangialasche (Karolinska Institutet).
In addition, on 8 March, five members of the Advisory Board participated in a meeting in which they provided feedback on a survey which is currently being developed in the consortium to explore and describe the perspectives of memory clinic clinicians on (communicating about) early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, dementia risk and prevention. This work was facilitated by Heleen Hendriksen (VU University Medical Center). All meetings were very interactive and lively, and the feedback received was very valuable for the EU-FINGERS Consortium.
*Following national and international recommendations to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the EU-FINGERS Consortium has shifted all their in-person meetings to virtual meetings (e-meetings) until further notice.