Senator Tim Scott brags on Roper St. Francis on Capitol Hill

Senator Scott. Senator Scott, welcome. Thank you, Chairwoman Collins. Thank you for holding this hearing and giving us all an opportunity to really interface with so many people that are committed to the cause and for all those folks out there with the purple lawn today, thank you for your investment of your time and your energy on such an incredibly important topic. I know that all of our offices have been filled with your with your enthusiasm and your real-life stories. I can't think of anyone here on on this panel who has not been impacted personally by Alzheimer's and for me at least Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and watching the the challenges of your loved ones. My grandmother passed away April 29th 2001 and just seeing that the devastation and the challenges that she faced but also for those who have been support systems. If you've had to have you've been blessed with the opportunity to care for someone with Alzheimer's, would you raise your hands? God bless you and thank you. It's amazing the impact that the disease has not only on the patient but on the family and on the loved ones and it's such a powerful witness that the folks that stopped by my office today spent a lot of time talking about their loved ones, their commitment to making sure that the research and the resources are available for the others who may be impacted by the disease as well. So I thank you for your your energy and your enthusiasm. It keeps all of us focused on the topic. My question is for Dr. Hodes. Thank you for your your expertise and thank you for your contribution here today. It's a great opportunity for me to really spend some time talking about the success that we've had at home in South Carolina, the Medical University of South Carolina and so many folks. Roper St. Francis Hospital System that has invested a lot of time looking for the resources to make progress. This Roper St. Francis in particular in Charleston has received more than 20 million dollars in grants researching treatments and caring for hundreds of Alzheimer patients each and every month. Since 2006 the South Carolina Aging Research Network has also been doing some really great work on this issue in conjunction with other hospitals and research universities. There is still so much work to be done. I hear optimism though from researchers in our state who believe that with the right resources that they can do the most amazing things. The question I have for you doctor is what does progress look like over the next 10 years from your perspective and are we meeting the National Alzheimer's Project Act milestones and updating them appropriately so that our researchers are working on the most critical projects? Can you point to specific achievements in collaboration and discovery since NAPA that has advanced the science on this issue? Thank you for the comment Senator Scott. I think there is well justified and huge enthusiasm about the potential for progress as we have a convergence on more and more insight into basic molecular cellular mechanisms behind Alzheimer's disease. In terms of the planning that is now in place is an intensified product of the national plan. We on a regular basis most recently with the summit held just last month here in Bethesda in the Washington area convene regularly experts to help us to update and renew the areas of highest priority and then to establish milestones just what we need to accomplish year by year in order to translate those priorities into the success that is the objective of the plan. In terms of some of the accomplishments that we've seen in recent years as noted in some of my opening comments and comments for the record we've seen progress in the ability to identify early stages of Alzheimer's disease in individuals long before the appearance of symptoms giving us opportunities that just didn't exist years ago to intervene with new treatments aimed at newly identified molecular targets and to understand whether they appear to be working or not by tracking biomarkers again long before we would identify progression to symptomatic disease. This is an example of the kind of progress we're making. I should add much as we're pursuing this kind of research we're also committed to important work to sustain the quality of life for those affected and their caregivers. The research proposals that are coming from from your state and across the country are enormously gratifying and exciting. Coupled with it I will say from our perspective is the enormous disappointment in fact pain and anguish of the great number of those meritorious applications that we were unable to support. So we are making progress without question towards an ultimate goal. The pace of that progress is being limited by the amount of research that we can support. Thank you sir. Thank you very much senator. Senator Whitehouse.