Primary Care Champion

The Equity for Latinx-Hispanic Healthy Aging (ELHA) Lab Principal Investigator, in the Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research is building capacity to improve early, timely, and accurate diagnosis of dementia among our historically minoritized and disenfranchised communities in California. Currently, over 660,000 Californians over 65 years of age live with Alzheimer’s disease. In the next 20 years, people living with Alzheimer’s will increased by 127%. Among ethnically diverse communities, it is estimated that the number of Latinxs individuals living with Alzheimer’s in California will more than triple during this time. Given the increased life expectancy, Latinxs are at an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s and related dementias relative to other ethnic groups. Therefore, early detection and accurate diagnosis is crucial. The Department of Neurology is seeking Spanish-English bilingual individuals to act as trusted ambassadors working alongside our interdisciplinary team of UCLA primary care physicians, nurses, patient navigators, social workers, neurologists, neuropsychologists, and community stakeholders. In this role, you will serve as an ambassador and act as a key team member by identifying community individuals with suspected cognitive changes/decline possibly due to an underlying dementia during their primary care wellness visit. You will also serve as a key member in improving health outcomes of people living with Alzheimer’s disease dementia by promoting partnerships between primary care systems, specialty care services, and community-based programming.