In 1983, when President Ronald Reagan designated an annual National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month fewer than two million Americans had Alzheimer’s. Today, that number is close to 5.5 million and estimates suggest it will rise to 16 million by 2050. There are no treatments. No cure. But around the globe people are working hard to change that.

At CIRM we have invested more than $60 million in 21 projects aimed at developing a deeper understanding of the disease and, we hope, one day developing effective treatments.

Lauren Miller Rogen

One of those helping lead that fight is our Board member Lauren Miller Rogen. Lauren has a family history of the disease and uses that to fuel her activism not just on our Board but through Hilarity for Charity, the organization she co-founded with her husband, Seth Rogen.

Lauren was recently profiled by the stem cell advocacy group Americans for Cures, talking about the impact the disease has had on her family, her advocacy on behalf of families struggling to cope with the disease and why she feels humor is such a powerful tool to raise awareness and hope in the fight against Alzheimer’s.

It’s a great interview and you can read it here.