African-American Brain Health Initiative (AABHI)

The Rutgers University-Newark African-American Brain Health Initiative (AABHI) is a unique university-community partnership between the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience and the Office of University-Community Partnerships. AABHI promotes brain health among African-American seniors in the Greater Newark, New Jersey, area through collaborations with churches, senior centers, public and federally-assisted housing, city, county, and state offices for health and aging.  We promote a culture of brain health among this group of older citizens by means of Brain Health Community Education and Awareness Conferences held on the Rutgers University-Newark campus and through smaller community forums held at churches, senior centers and low income housing buildings. By combining research, education, and community engagement, we seek to understand why African-Americans are at greater risk for Alzheimer’s disease, memory loss, and other age-related brain health problems, and what we can do to help improve people’s memory and brain health.

To date, over 12,000 African-American seniors and their caretakers have participated in various components of AABHI.