Alzheimer’s Clinic Set to Open at U. In January

The University of Utah will soon open a Center for Alzheimer’s Care, Imaging and Research, the first academic Alzheimer’s clinic in the Intermountain West.

Norman L. Foster, a professor of neurology at the U. School of Medicine, will lead the center, which will open in January to conduct brain-imaging research and serve as a teaching facility. The Intermountain West is projected to have the nation’s largest increase in dementia in the next 20 years, said Foster, who was the director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Program at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Foster said dementia in Utah is expected to increase between 70 and 125 percent by 2050..

“Dr. Foster is an immensely talented and dedicated physician and scientist and he will make a tremendous contribution to the Brain Institute’s collaborative approach to research,” said Lorris Betz, executive dean of the U. Medical School. “I have no doubt his work will greatly benefit Alzheimer’s patients in Utah and beyond.”

A $2.7 million startup gift from an anonymous donor and University Hospital will initially fund the center, which is expected to be fully operational in two years.