Recently Awarded Funding Supports New, Groundbreaking Oregon Alzheimer’s Research

For more than 20 years before he passed away, retired attorney John Luvaas struggled with the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.

His father, Rev. Peter Luvaas, also grappled with this irreversible, degenerating brain disorder, and so did five of his siblings. This unwanted thread connecting the family members seemed too strong to ignore.

So, early this year, John Luvaas’ daughter Kris Luvaas Meade contacted The Oregon Community Foundation (OCF). The Luvaas family has long had a fund at the foundation. Meade asked OCF for help connecting with Alzheimer’s researchers.

On April 17, the John L. Luvaas Family Fund of The Oregon Community Foundation gave $200,000 to the OHSU Layton Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Center. The funding will provide PET scans of patients’ brains, which will be used for brain pathology research. This essential data also will enable the center to leverage federal funding for additional research and development of disease treatments.

“Our hope is that these scans will allow them to see something never before detected, or at least they can follow the progression of these participants and learn something,” said Meade, who lives in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and in Portland.

Combined with other data biomarkers and behavior analysis, researchers will use this information to better identify the earliest signs of the disease. This could lead to earlier and more focused treatments for people struggling with Alzheimer’s disease and those at risk.

“It’s just a baby step, but we really feel good about it,” Meade continued. “When they put this research in tandem with the other research they’ve done, it will be meaningful.”