Kenneth M. Heilman, M.D.

Predicting Alzheimer's Disease

It is our goal to develop a non-invasive and inexpensive screening tool for predicting who will develop AD. To this end we want to learn what types of tests might be most sensitive and specific for predicting AD, and how these tests might be presented and scored by a computer. We envision a widely available. Predictive tests that could be programmed into a computer that presents stimuli (auditory via head phones or visual via a monitor) towards the person taking the test could respond by either touching a screen or speaking into a microphone. If those tests are found to be good predictors for developing Alzheimer's, they could become of wide spread use.