Ian Kremer & Meryl Comer
Ian Kremer is Executive Director of the LEAD Coalition (Leaders Engaged on Alzheimer’s Disease), unifying more than 100 local, state, national, and multinational organizations committed to stopping Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, including vascular and Lewy body dementia and frontotemporal degeneration. The coalition works collaboratively to focus the nation’s strategic attention on accelerating transformational progress in quality of life for persons living with dementia and their caregivers; detection and diagnosis; and research leading to prevention, effective treatment, and eventual cures. Kremer, who has worked in dementia policy since 1996, earned his undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis and his law degree from the University of Michigan. Meryl Comer is a Board Member of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s and President/ CEO of Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer's Initiative, which promotes early diagnosis, virtual innovation challenges and m-health technologies. A founding partner of The Global Alliance on Women’s Brain Health and co-founder of Women Against Alzheimer’s, she serves on the NIH National Advisory Council on Aging(NACA). In 2012, she led the formation of the 21st Century BrainTrust® (21CBT), a non-profit partnership to advance mobile health technologies and brain health. Comer is also co-principal investigator for the PCORI Alzheimer's Patient/Caregiver Research Network in partnership with the Mayo Clinic, UCSF's Brain Health Registry, and USAgainstAlzheimer's Networks. In 2009, she served on the bi-partisan Alzheimer's Study Group, charged with presenting a National Strategic Plan to Congress. A former veteran broadcast journalist, Comer’s New York Times and Washington Post bestseller, Slow Dancing with a Stranger (HarperCollins) supports Alzheimer’s research. Recent Awards include 2018 Catalyst Award – Women’s Brain Health Initiative, 2016 BrightFocus Public Advocacy Award, 2015 Alzheimer Drug Discovery Foundation “Great Ladies” Award, 2015 International Book Award, New York Times Best Seller, 2014 Wertheim Global Medical Leadership Award (FIU).
