Mary Sano is professor of psychiatry and the director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. She is also the director of research and development at the James J. Peters Veterans Administration Hospital. Sano is a neuropsychologist by training and has been involved in designing and conducting clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and mild cognitive impairment of aging. She received the Florence and Herbert Irving Clinical Research Career Award to develop methodologies for the assessment of therapeutic agents in Alzheimer’s disease. This work has been extended to develop methodologies for in-home assessment of elders in dementia prevention trials. As a founding member of the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study, she directed the first multicenter trial demonstrating the effects of vitamin E in delaying clinical progression of Alzheimer’s disease. This work was replicated in the 2014 JAMA clinical trial report of vitamin E in a multi-center trial of veterans. She has been a leader in dementia prevention trials examining the effects of estrogens, statins, and nutraceuticals. Recent work has focused on insuring trials are accessible for diverse populations, including the development of methods and norms for the inclusion of Latinos and Asian elders. She is globally recognized, as evidenced by her current position as president-elect of International Psychogeriatric Association and as a member of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee of the Alzheimer’s Association. She is also the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease.

Kay Lazar is a health reporter at the Boston Globe who specializes in coverage concerning public health and aging. Her experience combines three decades of print and broadcast reporting. Kay started her career in broadcast journalism in Boston, working as a writer and producer at WBZ Radio. She later worked as a network news writer and editor at ABC Radio News and CBS Radio News in New York City. She has been at the Boston Globe since 2004. Kay received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. Honors include the 2013 Pulitzer Prize finalist team for coverage of a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak, and a 2013 National Press Club award for excellence in writing on issues facing the elderly.