Dr. Hascup at work in the lab

Dale and Deborah Smith Center for Alzheimer's Research and Treatment

Since 2018, the Smith Alzheimer's Center has garnered more than $7.2 million in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health.

The Dale and Deborah Smith Center for Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment at SIU Medicine provides clinical care, research and community programs throughout Illinois. Since 1986, its employees have diagnosed, treated and educated Illinois families with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. In the past year, the center, along with its Memory and Aging Network, has served more than 2,600 patients and their families. Learn more about our mission.

RESEARCH, PATIENT CARE

Gift offers renewed hope

A major gift to Southern Illinois University School of Medicine will transform the health care of people throughout Illinois and beyond. Dale and Deborah Smith recently donated a substantial financial gift to the Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders at SIU Medicine to expand research, enhance programming and improve care for people with Alzheimer’s disease and assist their caregivers.

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PATIENT CARE

Beyond the Medical Center

While the researchers at the Smith Alzheimer’s Center investigate new and better ways to prevent, slow, and cure dementia-related diseases, our team is caring for and supporting patients and their families through free, therapeutic, evidence-based programs to improve quality of life.

These programs are designed not only for those with Alzheimer’s, using creativity through art, music, exercise and more, but also for the individuals caring for them, equipping family caregivers with resources and skills. 

Dementia Caregiving 101

Art Express

Minds in Motion

Music and Memory

Stepping Up

Elderly man smiling
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Your support makes a difference

From evidence-based programs supporting patients and their families to ongoing research dedicated to finding ways to slow progression of the disease to training the next generations of dementia care specialists, the Dale and Deborah Smith Center for Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment has big ideas, big hearts and big goals. Your gift impacts our communities and supports our vision of better health for all.

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An ally for caregivers

Alzheimer's disease impacts not just the diagnosed individual, but their entire network and especially their caregiver. Here at the Smith Alzheimer's Center at SIU Medicine, we know how crucial support for caregivers is toward ensuring the best possible treatment for patients. Ann Jirmasek, LPC, shares how the Smith Alzheimer's Center can help provide that thoughtful attention for not only the person with memory loss, but their caregiver as well in this Medicine Minute.

Hascup Lab

Volunteer for a clinical trial

The Smith Alzheimer's Center conducts cutting-edge investigational interventions through clinical trials offered here at SIU Medicine. See how you can volunteer for a trial and be a part of helping find better and more effective treatments for Alzheimer's.

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Meet our team

Advancing care through research

Latest news

People with Alzheimer's or dementia enjoy art class

Brushing away isolation

Loneliness, isolation are worsening mental health in seniors Creating community and providing education can help deliver the solution. For more than a decade, Karen Lee has fostered connections
McFadden

Fund established in McFadden’s honor to further dementia research

Sam McFadden’s curiosity and passion for studying neurodegenerative diseases will live on through the recently established Samuel A. McFadden Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease Research Fund
Kevin Hascup

Hascup Lab, SIUC collaboration to explore new path for Alzheimer’s therapy

A collaboration between neuroscience and engineering will explore a novel approach in reducing formation of plaques commonly found in those with Alzheimer’s. Kevin Hascup, PhD, of the Smith Alzheimer
Alzheimers

Providing hope, quality of life for those with Alzheimer’s

Art Express is one of many programs at the Smith Alzheimer’s Center at SIU Medicine designed to help those with dementia and their caregivers improve their quality of life.

Latest blog articles

Stress

Ask a Caregiver: How to avoid burning out

The Ask a Caregiver column features tips from experienced caregivers with lived experiences caring for those with dementia and memory loss. Roger Steinbach is a former caregiver and current volunteer
Senior_artwork

Adapting activities for those with memory loss

Winter can be an isolating time of year and that can be especially true for those with Alzheimer’s or dementia. Venturing out into the cold weather and dealing with shorter days limits the options of
Dementia care

Is [this] a sign of dementia?

It’s a question we often hear at the Smith Alzheimer’s Center. No matter how you fill in the blank, it’s a fair question to ask. There are numerous types of dementia , symptoms vary depending on the
Close up of Leica Microscope

Finding the starting line for Alzheimer's

Where should research start in solving Alzheimer's? That's a tricky question to answer. What exactly are researchers looking for when trying to solve the Alzheimer’s puzzle? “It depends on the