Advancing Knowledge and Understanding of Memory Disorders

Since 1981, the Stanford/VA Alzheimer's Research Center has been conducting leading research into the causes and treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). AD is a progressive disorder of the brain that affects approximately thirty five million people worldwide.

The center's multidisciplinary staff includes clinicians and researchers from the Stanford University Department of Psychiatry and from the VA Palo Alto Health Care System.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, California Department of Health Services, and other sources, the SVAC offers information, referral services and comprehensive diagnostic assessments of individuals with memory problems. In addition to providing advanced caregiver support, intervention, community education, and professional training, the center plays an important role in developing a central pool of information on Alzheimer's disease in California.

In 1989, our center has established the Stanford/VA California Alzheimer’s Disease Center (CADC). One of the premiere assessment centers in Northern California, the Stanford/VA CADC offers specialized diagnostic and support services to optimize the cognitive, functional, and behavioral abilities of individuals with memory disorders and to improve health care delivery and quality of life for both patients and caregivers. Our areas of service mainly comprise Santa Clara, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Monterey Counties, as well as parts of Alameda and Stanislaus Counties. The ethnically diverse populations residing in these areas include many individuals of Asian and Hispanic or Latino descent. Our outreach efforts for some time now have focused on underserved and vulnerable populations, including veterans and ethnic minorities. Our multilingual, diverse staff is sensitive to the unique issues facing these groups. Given the large number of Bay Area seniors at risk of developing cognitive impairment, the Stanford/VA CADC is actively addressing this problem by offering patients and their families access to state-of-the-art diagnostic assessments, referral services, specialized support groups, and educational programs about health maintenance, AD and the related dementias.