The Future is Here
Center for Brain Health
We are delighted to share the exciting news that the Texas Legislature and The University of Texas System Board of Regents have approved the establishment of a new Center for Brain Health at UT Health San Antonio. This five-floor building will be a hub for patient care and translational research nestled between the outpatient UT Health Physician’s Medical Arts and Research Center (MARC) and the aging and brain research hub at the Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies. The Center will be the first such facility in Texas dedicated to comprehensively serving all the brain health needs of patients and families in one space.
The Center for Brain Health will house both the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases and the Department of Neurology. It will facilitate our continued leadership in superb care and research, in population neuroscience which prevents disease in communities, in innovative biological and artificial intelligence-based research, in education and training, and in guiding public health policy on diseases that disproportionately impact Texas communities.
This new facility will serve as a hub for multidisciplinary, comprehensive, compassionate prevention, diagnosis and care for all persons concerned about
or experiencing a neurological or aging related brain illness and for their families. Here we will treat a wide range of conditions that affect brain and nerve health including cognitive (memory and thinking, Alzheimer’s, dementia) and movement (tremors, difficulty walking, falls, Parkinson’s disease) disorders, stroke, seizures, headaches, multiple sclerosis, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), ALS, sleep disorders and neuropathies.
A team of physicians, neuropsychologists, radiologists and other professionals will provide seamless access to the latest clinical, imaging, laboratory and genetic tests. Patients can opt for the latest treatments including infusions, enroll in more than 50 clinical trials of promising medicines and receive specialized supportive treatments like physical therapy, aphasia treatments and counseling.
This will be a space for the community to assemble and support each other, to share their priorities, to meet with visiting experts, and to access music, art and library resources on brain health. Finally, the Center will be a site for us to honor all those committed to the cause – who give of their money, time, expertise, insights and the most precious brain and blood donations.
2022
A Message From The Director
Dear Friends,
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your faith in our collective vision for the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s & Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health San Antonio. Thanks to your incredible support, we are well on our way to fulfilling Glenn and Ann Biggs’ vision of creating a center that offers comprehensive care for patients with dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and other related conditions such as Dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, progressive supranuclear palsy, vascular cognitive impairment and many other devastating conditions that do not currently have a cure. We are equally committed to supporting families and caregivers as they deal with the changes in their loved ones and worry about their own health.
This is a time to hope. We have more treatments being studied in the past five years than we had in the previous 20! But, the only way to know if a treatment that shows promise in mice or in cell cultures will work in humans is to study these treatments in clinical trials.
Our team thanks each of you who enrolled in a clinical study for your time and effort. You are heroes, fighting to preserve your health (or that of your loved one) and find answers for your friends and family so we can make these diseases preventable and treatable! The first person to be cured of Alzheimer’s will be someone on a clinical trial!
Each trial we undertake is carefully designed, nationally funded and meticulously monitored to test only the most promising interventions in a way that minimizes risk and maximizes the probability of benefit to those who enroll. Clinical trials only happen when we do not know if a treatment works, but overall persons who enroll in clinical trials and are seen frequently by a research team, in addition to their regular doctor, do better than patients not enrolled in a clinical trial. Today, the Biggs is conducting 70 clinical trials and studies for many conditions and stages of disease – from preventing illness in a healthy person at risk to treating rare forms of dementia or challenging symptoms.
In five relatively short years, you have helped us take the Biggs Institute to an unprecedented level of comprehensive patient care and cuttingedge translational research. Last year the National Institutes of Health recognized us as an Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center of excellence. We have partners and students who come from all over the country and the world to work with us. We now have published nearly 400 papers on our research discoveries and garnered more than $80 million in grant funding. But our focus is on you, preserving and enhancing brain health in our area so that our patients and families can continue to function, build and grow the special community we have in South Texas. We pledge to continue to serve your needs for prevention, diagnosis and appropriate
treatments, care and support for those living with the condition and their extended family.
However, we know that there are many things we can improve. We need more space and more physicians and other providers with expertise in all aspects of diagnosis and care. The University of Texas System Board of Regents just approved plans for the construction of a new building that will be the home of the Biggs Institute and a comprehensive Center for Brain Health.
The new five-story, state-of-the-art building will house our clinics and clinical research and offer highly advanced diagnostics and treatment options currently not available in South Texas. A range of specialists will be housed in a single, multi-disciplinary, patientcentered space with rooms for education, counseling, family discussions and caregiver support. This special space also will permit us to recognize many of our supporters, who have donated their money, ideas, time, effort, artistic vision, blood or brain.
My deepest gratitude for all who have supported our efforts over the past years. Our work is just beginning! Your continued support of our collective journey is critical. Please understand that no amount is too big or too small, and we would love to partner with you and learn from your personal experience and perspective so we can use your contribution to further those initiatives that are most meaningful to you.
If you are interested in partnering with us and learning more about this new building and the new programs, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Together we will continue our work toward a cure. Sincerely,
Sudha Seshadri, MD, Founding Director Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s & Neurodegenerative Diseases Robert R. Barker Distinguished University Professor of Neurology UT Health San AntonioBiggs Supporter Spreads Word on Lifestyle Changes
For Tenchita Flores, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia are very personal concerns.
Her mother and three aunts died from Alzheimer’s disease in their eighties — although one of the beloved women suffered until age 87.
“It was terrible watching what they went through. You lose them before they are even gone,” Flores said. “Seeing what my mother went through as Alzheimer’s took her was just devastating. She suffered for 10 very long years. And while my heart broke for my mom, I kept thinking about the genetics of the disease. Will this be my fate?”
Flores said she began searching for answers on how to prevent or delay Alzheimer’s disease. “Years ago, I went to a Council for Excellence in Women’s Health luncheon hosted by Co-Chairs Mary Henrich and Graciela Cigarroa. Dr. Bill Henrich [UT Health San Antonio president] shared the news about plans to create the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases.
“Dr. Henrich explained that Mr. Biggs came to him after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and struggling to find comprehensive care. Dr. Henrich took this idea – with support from Glenn and Ann Biggs, their family members, friends and other community members – and made it a reality,” she said.
While that news was inspiring, Flores asked Dr. Henrich what she could do to keep from getting Alzheimer’s. “At that time, he answered, ‘Nothing. If you get it, you get it.’ I couldn’t believe there was nothing I could do.”
Fast forward several years to early 2019 when Tenchita Flores and her husband, Alfredo Flores Jr., attended a special Dialogue on Dementia at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts hosted
by the Biggs Institute and its Founding Director Sudha Seshadri, MD. At this event, Tenchita Flores said Dr. Henrich took the stage and told the crowd that members of the medical community for many years had thought there was nothing one could do to prevent or delay Alzheimer’s. Dr. Henrich then acknowledged, “I’m glad to say we were wrong.” Research was proving that individuals could make lifestyle changes that could prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s.
“I took notes on the speakers’ comments about protecting your brain from Alzheimer’s by exercising at least 30 minutes a day, maintaining a Mediterranean-type diet, getting good amounts of sleep, maintaining strong social connections, managing stress, and not smoking,” she said. “This was all music to my ears. One could actually do things to reduce the likelihood of suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia.”
After attending a second Dialogue on Dementia hosted by the couple’s friends of more than 20 years, Bill and Rebecca Reed, Flores said she knew she wanted to share this information with others. In May 2022, Tenchita and Alfredo Flores Jr. were able to host the informative event at The Club at Sonterra. More than 375 attended with several families finding the comprehensive care they needed, 26 or more volunteering for clinical trials, and others giving donations to the Biggs Institute. Flores said she was thrilled the event introduced so many more people to the institute.
“I am driven to support the Biggs Institute because it is an incredibly necessary center of excellence in patient care and research. As Dr. Henrich says, ‘Alzheimer’s is a tsunami that is headed straight toward us.’
“The Biggs Institute is a jewel in this city. It will keep shining more and more as each year passes. It will keep becoming more important to those who have Alzheimer’s and their caregivers,” she said. “Lastly, I want to remind everyone it isn’t too late to start adopting those lifestyle changes. Start today. It can make a difference.”
Tenchita and Alfredo Flores Jr. own Alamo Music Center, a full-service music instrument store, founded by his father in 1929. Four generations of the family have been involved in the iconic San Antonio-based institution.
CLINICAL TRIALS To learn more about ongoing clinical trials: 210-450-9742 biggsinstitute.org/clinical-trials
ONGOING
Alfredo Flores Jr. (from left), Dr. Sudha Seshadri, Ann Biggs, Tenchita Flores and Dr. William Henrich visit at the Dialogue on Dementia.
Longtime friends Rebecca and Bill Reed (from left) attend the Dialogue on Dementia hosted by Tenchita and Alfredo Flores Jr. at The Club at Sonterra.
Physician-Scientist Honors Grandparents
Jeremy Tanner, MD, grew up in Houston down the street from his grandparents who were his second set of parents. “I was at their home almost as much as my own. I was very close to them.”
When he was in high school, his grandmother started developing symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and was later diagnosed.
“I saw the effect the disease had not only on her, but also on my grandfather and on our entire family. My grandfather was forced to watch the love of his life slowly deteriorate before his eyes.
“When he was in front of my grandmother, he kept a positive facade that everything was fine. I will never forget when I pulled him aside privately and asked him how he was doing. He broke down crying. I had never seen him do that before. That opened my eyes to how devastating this disease is both for caregivers and for patients,” Dr. Tanner said.
This experience led him to study neuroscience as an undergraduate at the University of Southern California. A summer spent shadowing his grandmother’s Alzheimer’s physician at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston solidified his decision to pursue a career in medicine.
“I was fortunate to go to Johns Hopkins for medical school. There I became involved in research, based on my grandfather’s experience, on the impact of a care coordination intervention for people living with dementia and their caregivers,” he said.
As Dr. Tanner learned more about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, he realized the magnitude of the problem for the growing aging population, and the need to develop improved diagnostics and treatments.
“To be able to do research in dementia, I needed to learn clinical research skills so I pursued a Master in Public Health between my third and fourth year of medical school. I became involved in studying imaging biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease. “At that time, I was fortunate to match for my residency at the University of California San
Francisco, where I did four years of neurology training. I went on to do a two-year Behavioral Neurology fellowship there. I provided clinical care, and I became involved in PET biomarker research for Alzheimer’s disease,” Dr. Tanner said.
He completed his fellowship in July 2022 and was recruited to the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases as an assistant professor.
Sudha Seshadri, MD, Biggs Institute director, attributes his recruitment to philanthropic support from the late Charles L. Bowden, MD, and his wife of 61 years, Virginia S. Bowden, PhD. Dr. Charles Bowden, who passed March 1, 2022, was a pillar of the UT Health San Antonio Department of Psychiatry for 50 years. Dr. Virginia Bowden, who passed May 2, 2022, served the university for 33 years, including 18 as director of the Dolph Briscoe Jr. Library.
The couple’s longtime support included a $200,000 gift to create the Bowden Fellowship Research Fund, which funds Dr. Tanner’s pilot research.
“The Bowdens’ generous support helped the Biggs Institute bring one of the nation’s top young investigators to San Antonio,” Dr. Seshadri said.
Dr. Tanner said he is excited to join the Biggs Institute. “When I left Texas at age 18, there was no Biggs Institute. I was thrilled to find a great opportunity to return to Texas and to join a team similarly motivated to provide exceptional dementia care and to advance research to meaningfully improve the lives of those affected by neurodegenerative diseases and their families.”
7703 Floyd Curl Drive
San Antonio, Texas 78229-3900
SUPPORTIVE CARE
Caring for a Parent Support Group provides members a comfortable space to share their unique experiences of caring for a parent with dementia and discuss how they address navigating challenging behaviors – all while providing peer support to one another.
Grief and Loss During and After Caregiving Support Group is for current caregivers and those who have lost a loved one to a dementia diagnosis. Caregivers frequently experience feelings of grief and loss throughout the caregiving process, which continues after death.
ReCollections: Art Conversations with the San Antonio Museum of Art is a community program that brings the art museum experience to people living with Alzheimer’s and dementia, as well as their families and caretakers. Sessions include facilitated conversations — inspired by works of art in the museum’s collection — to encourage reminiscing and storytelling.
New initiatives include a weekly clinic to help patients with aphasia and speech and language problems (Catherine Torrington Eaton, PhD, CC-SLP), and another to diagnose and treat sleep disorders due to a neurological illness (Okeanis Vaou, MD, who joined us in September 2022 from Tufts University in Boston).
Virtual Yoga is a free physical wellness program offering gentle yoga classes. The classes are led by a trained yoga instructor and all levels are welcome!
Please consider making a gift to support the Biggs Institute. All gifts are 100 percent tax deductible.
Your gift may be directed to a program of your choice and may be made in memory or in honor of a loved one.
If you would like to discuss giving options, call Stephanie Van Sickel at (210) 450-7106 or email at vansickel@uthscsa.edu. Website: makelivesbetter.uthscsa.edu/biggsdonate
HELP IS HERE
Patient Care/Clinical Trials 210-450-9742 Counseling Services 210-450-8506 Brain Donation 210-450-8423 Support Groups 210-450-8506
UTHealthAlz.org
DISCOVERY
BIGGS INSTITUTE
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