| Wake Forest School of Medicine | |
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| Location | Winston-Salem, NC, USA |
| Type | Medical School |
| Founded | 1902 |
| Website | https://school.wakehealth.edu/ |
| Focus Areas | Alzheimer's Disease, Vascular Cognitive Impairment, Metabolic Risk Factors, Aging |
| Key Centers | Sticht Center for Healthy Aging and Alzheimer's Prevention Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) Roena B. Kulynych Center for Memory and Cognition Research |
Wake Forest School Of Medicine is an important component in the neurobiology of neurodegenerative diseases. This page provides detailed information about its structure, function, and role in disease processes.
Wake Forest University School of Medicine (now part of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist) is a medical school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with a nationally recognized program in aging, vascular cognitive impairment, and [Alzheimer's disease--TEMP--/diseases)--FIX-- prevention. The institution's neurodegenerative disease research is concentrated in the Sticht Center for Healthy Aging and Alzheimer's Prevention, which houses the NIA-funded Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) — one of only six NIH-funded ADRCs in the southeastern United States, a region that bears the highest per-capita rate of Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias in the country (Wake Forest ADRC) (Atrium et al., 2024).
Wake Forest's distinctive contribution to the field is its focus on the intersection of metabolic health, vascular risk factors, and dementia — an area where the institution has generated landmark clinical trial evidence through studies such as SPRINT-MIND and the U.S. POINTER trial (Williamson et al., 2019).
The J. Paul Sticht Center is the umbrella organization for Wake Forest's aging and dementia research enterprise. It houses several major programs under a single roof: the Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, the ADRC, and the Roena B. Kulynych Center for Memory and Cognition Research. The center maintains longitudinal data, DNA, blood, cerebrospinal fluid, and neuroimaging from approximately 1,500 well-characterized participants (Wake Forest Sticht Center).
The Wake Forest ADRC is directed by Suzanne Craft, PhD, a neuropsychologist and neuroendocrinologist who is recognized as a leading authority on the role of insulin metabolism in [Alzheimer's disease--TEMP--/diseases)--FIX-- and aging. The center studies how metabolic and vascular risk factors promote the transition from normal aging to mild cognitive impairment and then to Alzheimer's Disease or vascular cognitive impairment (Wake Forest ADRC Director Welcome) (Craft et al., 2012).
Key ADRC research themes include:
Wake Forest researchers played a central role in the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial — Memory and Cognition in Decreased Hypertension (SPRINT-MIND) study, with Jeff Williamson, MD, MHS serving as co-principal investigator. SPRINT-MIND demonstrated that intensive blood pressure lowering (targeting systolic BP < 120 mmHg) significantly reduced the risk of mild cognitive impairment compared to standard treatment — providing the first randomized evidence that cardiovascular risk factor management can protect cognition (NIH Awards Wake Forest $27 Million, 2024) (Research et al., 2015).
In 2024, the NIH awarded Wake Forest $27 million to continue studying vascular health and its impact on cognition, building on the SPRINT-MIND findings.
Wake Forest is a lead site for the U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk (U.S. POINTER), a large-scale clinical trial testing whether lifestyle interventions (exercise, diet, cognitive stimulation, vascular risk management) can protect cognitive function in at-risk older adults. This study is modeled on the Finnish FINGER trial, which showed positive results for multimodal lifestyle intervention (Baker et al., 2010).
| Researcher | Role | Focus Areas |
|---|---|---|
| Suzanne Craft, PhD | ADRC Director | Insulin/metabolism and AD, intranasal insulin |
| Jeff Williamson, MD, MHS | Associate Director | Vascular cognitive impairment, SPRINT-MIND |
| Laura Baker, PhD | Associate Director | Exercise interventions, lifestyle and cognition |
The study of Wake Forest School Of Medicine has evolved significantly over the past decades. Research in this area has revealed important insights into the underlying mechanisms of neurodegeneration and continues to drive therapeutic development.
Historical context and key discoveries in this field have shaped our current understanding and will continue to guide future research directions.