July 7, 2000

ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE GRANTS AWARDED

SPRINGFIELD, IL — The Illinois Department of Public Health has awarded eight grants, totaling nearly $3.15 million, for Alzheimer’s disease research and support, Dr. John R. Lumpkin, state public health director, today announced.

Funding for five of the grants – $128,300 – is from the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Fund, a special fund to which taxpayers can contribute through their IL-1040 income tax returns. Since 1986, when the fund first appeared on the tax forms, nearly $1.91 million has been donated to support 101 research projects.

The remaining three grants, totaling almost $3.02 million, were awarded to Alzheimer’s disease assistance centers at Northwestern University, Evanston ($205,933); Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center, Chicago ($1,405,933); and Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield ($1,405,933). The centers at Northwestern and Rush serve the Chicago metropolitan area, including Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will counties; the SIU center serves the rest of Illinois’ counties.

The grants, which support the centers’ four major mandates: identification, diagnosis and

treatment, education and research, are drawn from general revenue funds and have been awarded since fiscal year 1987. Through fiscal year 2000, grants have totaled nearly $26.5 million. “Alzheimer’s disease touches many people in Illinois and not only those who are afflicted with the disease. Spouses, relatives and friends all pay a high price — physically, emotionally, socially and financially — in coping with this devastating disease,” Dr. Lumpkin said. “The compassion and generosity of Illinois taxpayers is apparent each year in their contributions to this fund and the critical research it supports into the causes and most effective treatments for this disease.”

Victims of this age-related form of dementia suffer a progressive loss of memory, attention span and the ability to learn. The disease affects nearly 4 million Americans, about

200,000 in Illinois. These numbers are expected to increase dramatically during the next 25 years, however, as the country’s population ages.

Grant requests were reviewed by the Department in consultation with the Alzheimer’s Disease Assistance Act Advisory Committee and Peer Review Panel. Members of the advisory committee include professionals who work with people with Alzheimer’s disease, researchers, victims’ family members and representatives of the general public.

The five recipients of this year’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Fund grants are :

• William L. Klein, Ph.D., Northwestern University, “New targets for Alzheimer’s drug discovery,” $20,000

• Dimitra A. Loukissa, R.N., Ph.D., Rush University, “Physiological effects of a behavioral intervention,” $30,000

• Jacqueline E. Payton, B.S., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, “Functional analysis of an Alzheimer’s disease-related protein,” $28,900

• Bruce C. Quinn, M.D., Ph.D., Northwestern University, “Neurotoxic mechanisms of glial response in Alzheimer’s disease,” $20,000

• Sreepadma P. Sonty, Northwestern University, “Language network changes in Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia, a functional imaging study,” $29,400

Voluntary contributions to the Illinois’ voluntary income tax funds must raise a minimum of $100,000 by October 1 each year to remain on the IL-1040 forms. As of June 23, Illinois taxpayer donations to the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Fund stood at $160,850, ensuring that the fund will appear on this year’s Illinois tax forms (2000 taxes, payable in 2001) for the 15th consecutive year.