Mary S. Mittelman, DrPH

Alzheimer’s disease has devastating effects on both patients and on the families who care for them. My career spans more than three decades during which time I have had the opportunity to develop, evaluate, implement and disseminate meaningful psychosocial interventions with efficacy in improving the well-being of people with dementia and their family caregivers. For more than 20 years I was Principal Investigator of the NIH-funded study (R01 AG14634-12, 8/1/1987-7/31/2010; AD Caregiver Well-Being Counseling/Institutionalization), a randomized controlled trial of what became known as the NYU Caregiver Intervention (NYUCI), the results of which have been published widely. The NYUCI won many awards, including the first global award for Alzheimer’s psychosocial research from Alzheimer’s Disease International/Fondation Mederic Alzheimer. Community translations and additional randomized controlled trials of the NYUCI have been conducted in the United States, England, Australia, France, Canada and Israel.  Additional randomized controlled trials demonstrated the generalizability of the NYUCI to other populations, such as adult-child caregivers as well as to Hispanic caregivers. A model of the potential cost savings associated with the NYUCI led directly to funding of caregiver support programs throughout New York State in 2016, including the NYU Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Family Support Program of which I am the founding director. With additional NIH grants, my colleagues and I developed and evaluated online training in the NYUCI for social service professionals as well as training on delivering the a NYUCI via telehealth. I have also made every effort to disseminate research findings to both health care providers and the community at large and to collaborate with organizations wishing to implement evidence-based psychosocial interventions in community settings. In the past few years, my research focus has expanded to include arts-based interventions for the person with dementia and the family caregiver. For example, I evaluated, and demonstrated the benefits of Meet Me at MoMA, the MoMA Alzheimer’s Project, an educational program designed for people with dementia and their family members. In 2011, I founded The Unforgettables, a chorus for people with dementia with their family members, the benefits of which have been published. The Unforgettables continues to rehearse and give regular concerts in New York City and has been the model for similar choruses in other locations.