Our newest research-advisor Prof. Randall J. Bateman, MD.
READ-OUT Study
Pat & Dennis Bender Early Dementia Diagnosis & Prognosis Fund
J. Dennis Bender
Office, Home & Cell Phone: 859-391-5226
5726 La Jolla Blvd. – Suite 311
La Jolla, CA 92037-7345
&
Office - 100 Riverside Pl. - Suite 303
Covington, KY 41011-5711
We support the development of improved diagnostic methods for the early detection and diagnosis of MCI, Alzheimer’s, vascular and other dementias, forecasting their likely prognosis, and best treatment options. We focus on the development of Bayesian-based, medical-decision-support systems, comparative-effectiveness research, and the better utilization of these for the above. (After incorporating in KY as a 501(c)3 in 2002, I dissolved that entity in favor of a simplified form of two entirely self-financed, private philanthropies utilizing a Vanguard Charitable Trust for making annual-research-grants for early-dementia-detection and its correct differential-diagnosis and likely-prognosis. They will continue on, after I am long gone, either mentally or physically, with annual $1M grants. Scripps Foundation, Profs. Randall Bateman, James Brewer, eVTOL group and others will be our fund’s future research grant advisors. KMK Law is my legal advisor, David Bender my healthcare-proxy, Vanguard Trust will be my Estate Executor, Zrinko Modrusan my Systems Administrator, Eric Wohl my website administrator and John Jabro & ChatGPT4o my Assistants.
(See: https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/research_progress/earlier-diagnosis)
www.JDBender.com – EMS/eVTOL & Educational Experimental Aviation Fund (Vanguard Charitable Trust)
www.JDBender.org – Dementia Diagnosis Fund (Vanguard Charitable Trust)
March 26, 2025
“It’s fantastic to see studies like READ-OUT that are already identifying blood-tests now including additional digital-cognitive-assessments to see if these are an effective way to spot early-symptoms-of-dementia. . . We need to develop, test and roll-out innovative ways of diagnosing-dementia within the NHS, to make the process quicker and more-seamless for people. [So does the USA!]. . . It’s fantastic to see studies like READ-OUT that are already identifying blood-tests now including additional digital-cognitive-assessments to see if these are an effective way to spot early-symptoms of dementia.”
This new UK READ-OUT study can now include a series of online-tests and will measure memory and thinking taking less than 10-minutes to complete. This new funding will allow researchers to incorporate digital-assessments into the Real Word Dementia Outcomes (READ-OUT) study. It is exploring how accurate and reliable blood-tests are for different groups of people who have been referred to a memory-clinic.
Digital-tests taken at home or in a GP-surgery could be linked to the NHS App, helping streamline referrals to memory-clinics. This would enable people to get a diagnosis sooner and access the support they need without unnecessary delays. The first participants were recruited earlier this year.
OK! The UK is already doing this, so why has the US been so slow in trying to do the same? This is exactly the sort of effort that I’ve been putting my own currently $17+M trust fund behind, in-perpetuity, as soon as it is finally fully-funded to $20M, until then limited to our currently ongoing $105,000 grants annually.
Technology Boost for Blood Tests Set to Revolutionize Dementia Diagnosis
By Quang Tran | 25 March 2025
Today the Government pledged £2-million to boost on-going research that aims to diagnose dementia quicker and more-accurately than current methods. [Exactly the same objective that I’ve been working on for the past two-decades now!]
Tags: Blood tests, Diagnosis, Digital technology
The new funding will allow researchers to incorporate digital-assessments into the Real Word Dementia Outcomes (READ-OUT) study. This is exploring how accurate and reliable blood-tests are for different groups of people who have been referred to a memory-clinic. The first participants were recruited earlier this year.
Thanks to the new funding, the READ-OUT study can now include a series of online-tests. These will measure memory and thinking and take less-than-10-minutes to complete.
Combining blood-tests with quick-and-easy digital-assessments [exactly what I have been working on too!] could lead to a faster and more-accurate diagnosis for dementia than current methods, which are pen-and-paper-tests, brain-scans, and sometimes a lumbar-puncture; [we hope, but they have yet to prove it!]
“It’s fantastic to see studies like READ-OUT that are already identifying blood-tests now including additional digital-cognitive-assessments to see if these are an effective way to spot early-symptoms of dementia,” says Dr. Susan Kohlhaas, Executive Director of Research and Partnerships at Alzheimer’s Research UK.
Currently it can take up to a year – or even-longer in deprived-areas – for someone to get a diagnosis once they come forward with concerns about their memory and thinking.
“This is simply not good enough,” says Dr. Kohlhaas, “That’s why we need to develop, test and roll-out innovative ways of diagnosing-dementia within the NHS, to make the process quicker and more-seamless for people.”
What are digital-tests-for-dementia?
“Digital-tests have the potential to give doctors much-more-information compared to traditional pen-and-paper assessments,” Dr. Kohlhaas explains. “They can tell us how someone is approaching the test rather than just looking at how quickly and accurately someone completes the test.”
Experts say that in the future, digital-tests taken at home or in a GP-surgery could be linked to the NHS App, helping streamline referrals to memory-clinics. This would enable people to get a diagnosis sooner and access the support they need without unnecessary delays.
Prof. Vanessa Raymont, at the University of Oxford and who is leading the study is keen to promote the opportunity for people to get involved.
“This is especially exciting given READ-OUT is keen to recruit people who have other health problems and from ethnic groups that we haven’t been able to involve in research before,” says Prof Raymont.
You can read more about the study and how to get involved via the Dementias Platform UK’s nationwide Network.
How could combining digital and blood-tests help to diagnose dementia?
Integrating these scans with existing tests, like brain-scans, would ensure people get the full picture of their condition, and the support they deserve, more-quickly.
Evidence from this study will give researchers insight into how digital-tests can be used in clinical-practice with a view to implementing these new innovations in the NHS.
“Our approach will allow us to understand if such a combination of tests could be helpful and cost effective to roll-out across NHS memory-clinics and beyond,” says Dr. Raymont.
Dr. Kohlhaas adds, “A priority for this Government must be to keep-up-the-momentum we’ve seen in dementia-research to ensure people in the UK see the benefits of progress that’s being made.”
This new investment, funded by Innovate UK as part of the Government’s Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Goals program, builds on over £5-million that’s already been invested into two studies of dementia blood tests through the Blood Biomarker Challenge. CEO of Alzheimer’s Research UK, Hilary Evans, co-chairs this program.
Alzheimer’s Research UK Chief Executive Named Co-Chair of National Mission to Tackle Dementia
By Joyce Yu | 20 March 20, 2023
Tags: Clinical trials, Treatments
In August 2022, Scott Mitchell – Alzheimer’s Research UK Ambassador and husband of the late Dame Barbara Windsor – was invited to Downing Street to launch a new initiative aimed at driving forward dementia research, bringing us closer to a cure.
The announcement of The Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission followed years of campaigning by Scott, together with 50,000 people across the country, who joined us at Alzheimer’s Research UK by contacting their MPs, signing petitions and even writing personal letters to the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Today, to coincide with the meeting of the World Dementia Council in London, the Government has appointed two leaders to the helm of the Mission. We’re thrilled that they are our Chief Executive, Hilary Evans-Newton, and Prof. Nadeem Sarwar, from the leading pharmaceutical company, Eisai.
“’I’m so pleased to see such experienced leaders like Nadeem and Hilary be asked to lead this important work,” said Scott. “With drugs like lecanemab on the horizon, we now have proof that this is the case – proof that diseases like Alzheimer’s can and will be beaten – and the Mission has the ambition, funding and support to drive this momentum forwards.”
Hilary and Nadeem will lead a group styled on the successful Covid Vaccine Taskforce – a model that was campaigned for by Alzheimer’s Research UK and its supporters last year.
Hilary emphasized that everyone has a role to play in making the Mission successful and helping to pave the way for life-changing research breakthroughs. “This needs effective collaboration across the whole dementia landscape, from researchers to regulatory bodies, and of course the NHS,” she said.
Key aims of the Mission are to grow the UK’s ability to translate scientific discoveries into new treatments, and to future-proof the nation’s clinical research infrastructure. Just last month, it was revealed that the UK had fallen from 4th-to-10th-place in conducting late-stage (phase-III) clinical-trials. And last year, we revealed shockingly-low participation in late-stage-dementia-trials compared to other major health conditions, despite the growing number of potential dementia treatments in trials across the world.
Hilary and Nadeem were appointed by an expert panel which included Dame Kate Bingham, who headed-up the successful Covid Vaccine Taskforce, which oversaw the rapid purchase and roll-out of COVID-19-vaccines.
This approach is endorsed by our Chief Medical Officer, Prof. Jonathan Schott. “The Covid Vaccine Taskforce showed it’s possible to dramatically speed-up-drug-discovery, clinical-trials and the licensing and delivery of new therapies at scale,” he said. “Now is the time to take the lessons learnt and apply them to the next healthcare crisis of our time – dementia.”
A key priority for Hilary will not only be fostering join-up between scientists and drug companies to develop new treatments, but also ensuring the Mission focuses on the needs of people living with dementia. This is particularly urgent as the number of people living with the condition is expected to increase more than any other leading-cause-of-death in the UK over the next-decade.
She will take-up the role part time alongside her position as Chief Executive at Alzheimer’s Research UK. We wish her and Nadeem every success and look forward to supporting their efforts to ensure the UK is at the forefront of dementia research for years to come. To echo the words of our Executive Director of Research and Partnerships, Dr. Susan Kohlhaas “Together, they are a powerful driving-force for change, and people with dementia deserve no less.”
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