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In part one of a series on UsAgainstAlzheimer’s Brain Health Journey host Meryl Comer is joined by Nancy Meserve, a lived experience advisor and APOE4 double-carrier, and Catherine Patterson, interim COO of UsAgainstAlzheimer's. Their conversation explores the newly launched Brain Health Journey — a suite of resources designed to help people at elevated Alzheimer's risk, those living with the disease, and their care partners navigate the road from concern to diagnosis.

You can find the Brain Health Journey at MyBrainGuide.org.

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Host Meryl Comer continues her conversation with Dr. Jason Karlawish, professor of medicine, medical ethics, and neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, about the evolving landscape of Alzheimer's disease. Drawing on his book The Problem with Alzheimer's, Dr. Karlawish explores the promise of early detection, the ethical complexities of disclosing uncertain diagnoses, and why he remains skeptical that an outright cure is on the near horizon — famously comparing it to planning retirement with a lottery ticket.

The conversation moves into the deeply human side of the disease, touching on caregiving as a form of "mind support," the role families play in both enabling and delaying diagnosis, and the exciting potential of smartphones and smart home technologies to transform care. Dr. Karlawish shares a candid reflection on what gives him hope and what keeps him up at night. This episode is a thoughtful, unflinching look at a disease that is best understood as a "complex tragedy."

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What happens when your carefully mapped career path collides with an Alzheimer's diagnosis — and you're only 26? In this deeply personal episode of BrainStorm by UsAgainstAlzheimer’s, host Meryl Comer sits down with Jessica Guthrie, founder of the online platform Career and Caregiving Collide, whose life changed forever when her mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's in 2014.

Jessica shares what it means to be a young Black professional thrust into the role of long-distance caregiver — navigating a healthcare system that often didn't listen, workplaces that weren't designed with caregivers in mind, and support spaces where she was frequently the youngest and only Black person in the room. Rather than suffering in silence, she turned her experience into a growing online community where caregivers across generations find connection, validation, and practical wisdom.

Meryl and Jessica unpack the hidden barriers facing Black families seeking an Alzheimer's diagnosis, the toll caregiving takes on career ambitions and financial security, and why the people who show up at diagnosis often disappear years down the road.

This is conversation for anyone who has ever had to choose between their dreams and their family.

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