Research
CURRENT PROJECTS
The International Indigenous Dementia Research Network Conference (IIDRN)
The IIDRN Executive and Conference Planning Committees look forward to seeing you in Hawaiʻi for the 2025 International Indigenous Dementia Research Network (IIDRN) Annual Conference. The conference will take place at the same location as #IIDRN24 at Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, Honolulu, HI. Save the date: October 20-23, 2025.
We have 3 different registration categories: Professional, Trainee, and Community Member/Elder.
Professional: Includes university faculty or staff; research professionals or staff; health care and allied health professionals including physicians, nurses, dentists, psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists, etc.; health care administrators; and health policy makers. (Fees TBD)
Trainee: Includes undergraduate or graduate students (currently enrolled in a degree program) and post-doctoral fellows. (Fees TBD)
Community Member/Elder: Includes Indigenous Elders and other interested people who do not fit into the professional or trainee categories above. (Fees TBD)
Indigenous Cultural Understandings of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias – Research & Engagement (ICARE)
The purpose of this research is to better understand the lived-experiences and impact of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) in Indigenous populations. Our research acknowledges that culture and community context influence Indigenous peoples’ experience with dementia. Culturally grounded approaches and resources to increase awareness and improve outcomes are needed. We use ethnographic and community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches to work in partnership on this research with Indigenous communities in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ontario. Our qualitative analytic approach incorporates both biomedical and Indigenous understandings of ADRD. Findings will support the creation of culturally specific health promotion and education materials. These efforts also reinforce our long-term goal to create culturally safe clinical guidelines and dementia diagnosis with care tools for North American Indigenous populations.
The Center for Community-Engaged Rural Dementia and Alzheimer’s Research (CERDAR)
The Center for Community-Engaged Rural Dementia and Alzheimer’s Research (CERDAR), aims to tackle the growing challenge of dementia and dementia care needs in rural Minnesota. CERDAR will use community-based approaches to engage rural communities in Northern Minnesota in Alzheimer’s and Related Dementia’s (ADRD) research. CERDAR is comprised of five pilot projects that address:
- The role of community-based exercise in rural dementia prevention.
- Cultural factors in dementia and ADRD care.
- Technology to support caring for those with dementia in their homes.
- Rural epidemiology and health services efforts.
- The identification of factors that would increase rural and Indigenous participation in ADRD related clinical trials.
- Our long-term goal is to improve the quality of life for rural Minnesotans impacted by dementia.
Addressing Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Disparities: The American Indigenous Cognitive Assessment (AMICA)
Memory Keepers Medical Discovery Team (MK-MDT) has been awarded $10 million over five years by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for their grant entitled “Addressing Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Disparities: The American Indigenous Cognitive Assessment (AMICA)” (R01AG074231). MK-MDT Executive Director, Dr. Kristen Jacklin (PI), will lead the five-year project (2022-2027) to develop a culturally appropriate dementia evaluation toolkit for American Indian communities. This toolkit will include:
(1) a cognitive assessment
(2) caregiver report of symptoms of dementia,
(3) evaluation of depression symptoms
(4) inventory of changes in activities of daily living (ADLs)
Dr. Kristen Jacklin shared that “Having an accurate diagnosis of dementia is critical to having access to appropriate care for the person living with dementia and their caregivers. In our previous research we learned that Indigenous populations are reluctant to seek care for dementia because the clinical diagnosis process and tools are not culturally fair or safe. The toolkit we aim to develop will help meet a significant community need and will lead to greater accuracy and earlier detection of dementia.” This research expands and adapts previous clinical tools that have been developed and validated with Indigenous populations in Australia and Canada. The tools to be adapted include the Canadian Indigenous Cognitive Assessment (CICA), as well as the Australian Kimberly Indigenous assessments for depression (KICA depression), Activities of Daily Living (KICA-ADL) and a caregiver report (KICA-Carer). Memory Keepers researchers: Drs. Kristen Jacklin (PI), Wayne Warry (Co-I), Will Mantyh (Co-I) have partnered with the Red Lake Nation in Minnesota on this project. Drs. Carey Gleason (MPI) and Megan Zuelsdorff (Co-I) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will implement the project with the Oneida Nation in Wisconsin; and Drs. Tassy Parker (MPI) and Nancy Pandhi (Co-I) from the University of New Mexico will work on the AMICA project with a diverse urban population through the First Nations Community HealthSource in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Impact of Colonization in Indigenous Cardiovascular Health in Minnesota: Developing a Conceptual Framework
Dr. Antonio Paniagua Guzman, Postdoctoral Associate at the Memory Keepers Medical Discovery Team (MK-MDT), has been awarded $50,000 over two years by the Center for Chronic Disease Reduction and Equity Promotion Across Minnesota (C2DREAM), award number CON000000094340. This grant will be used to develop and implement his project entitled “The Impact of Colonization in Indigenous Cardiovascular Health in Minnesota: Developing a Conceptual Framework” in collaboration with one of the six Bands of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. This project will be developed under the mentorship of Dr. Kristen Jacklin, Executive Director at the MK-MDT. This project is part Cycle 3 of the C2DREAM Pilot Grant Program.
Therapeutic Poetry Program for Indigenous People Living with Dementia Alzheimer's Association
Dr. Antonio Paniagua Guzman, Postdoctoral Associate at the Memory Keepers Medical Discovery Team, has been awarded with $183,000 over three years by the Alzheimer’s Association for his project entitled, “Therapeutic Poetry Program for Indigenous People Living with Dementia” (AARFD-23-1151307). As awardee of the Alzheimer’s Association Research Fellowship to Promote Diversity (AARF-D), Dr. Paniagua Guzman (PI) and his study team will seek to work in collaboration with one of the six Bands of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe to develop and implement the first sustainable, replicable, and culturally safe poetry-based therapy program for Indigenous people living with dementia, the first of its kind in the United States.
Minnesota American Indian Dementia Surveillance System
Dr. Genelle Lamont has been awarded $200,000 over three years by the Alzheimer’s Association for her grant entitled, “Minnesota American Indian Dementia Surveillance System.” The aims of this project are to evaluate Tribal community members’ knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of dementia data collection, systems, and use to determine the capacity to link datasets to analyze American Indians (AI) dementia deaths.