Krystal Kittle Receives Alzheimer’s Association Research Grant

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Assistant Professor of Community Health Education Krystal Kittle is the recipient of a nearly $200,000 award from the Alzheimer’s Association Research Grant for All (AARGA) program. 

The AARGA program funds early-career investigators who have been in the position of Assistant Professor or the equivalent for no more than seven (7) years. It provides newly independent investigators with funding that will allow them to develop preliminary or pilot data, to test procedures and to develop hypotheses. The intent is to support early-career development of newly independent researchers/clinicians that will lay the groundwork for future research grant applications to federal or other funding entities.

Kittle's award will help her develop a structured conversation program to strengthen cognitive reserve in LGBTQIA+ older adults. While previous clinical trials have shown that social engagement through structured video calls can reduce social isolation and improve memory and thinking skills in socially isolated older adults, the research has largely left out LGBTQIA+ older adults, who often experience more social isolation than their peers because of a lifetime of discrimination, stigma, and exclusion. 

The pilot project will produce practical evidence about whether an adapted conversation-based program can realistically be delivered to LGBTQIA+ older adults, and whether it feels welcoming, safe, and worthwhile to them. Because this population has largely been left out of Alzheimer's-related research despite facing greater social isolation, these findings could help ensure that promising interventions to protect memory and thinking skills are eventually available to everyone, not just those most represented in existing studies. Ultimately, this pilot lays the groundwork for a larger, rigorous trial that could determine whether this kind of program truly helps protect cognitive health in LGBTQIA+ older adults.