MONDAY January 27: An Evening With Dr. Jason Karlawish

Alzheimer’s is a structural, neurodegenerative disorder resulting in the progressive and permanent loss of memory, identity, and autonomy. This is the present paradigm. But how can this paradigm stand, when many patients, deep into the condition, have episodes of lucidity, with clear re-connections to their “former” selves?

Time for a paradigm shift, and you are invited to spend one evening during Alzheimer’s Awareness Month reflecting  on a new awareness of the condition.

Please join us as Dr. Jason Karlawish guides us through an exploration of the phenomenon of paradoxical lucidity and its implications for Alzheimer patients, caregivers, and their physicians. Dr. Karlawish is a professor of medicine, medical ethics and health policy, and neurology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He is board-certified in geriatric medicine. He is director of the Penn Program on Precision Medicine for the Brain (P3MB), Co-Associate Director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, and co-director of the Penn Memory Center. He is also director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center’s Outreach, Recruitment and Education Core. His research focuses on aging, neuroethics and policy. He has investigated issues in dementia drug development, informed consent, paradoxical lucidity and theory of mind in dementia, research and treatment decision-making, and voting by persons living with dementia. He is the executive producer of the Age of Aging, a podcast dedicated to exploring living well with an aging mind. He is the author of The Problem of Alzheimer’s: How Science, Culture and Politics Turned a Rare Disease Into a Crisis and What We Can Do About It, and the novel Open Wound: The Tragic Obsession of Dr. William Beaumont..

Please join us as we kick off the 21st year of the Doctors' Lounge series by exploring the phenomenon of paradoxical/terminal lucidity. As always, sharing your personal experiences and insights with colleagues enriches the experience of participating in the Doctors’ Lounge series. Looking forward to your contributions.