Lecture Series

Join us on March 20, 2024, for the “Physical Activity to Promote Cognitive Health among Hispanic/Latino Communities” lecture with Adriana Perez, PhD, CRNP, ANP-BC, FAAN, FGSA, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. The lecture will take place at the Health Sciences Innovation Building, 1670 E. Drachman St., Tucson, AZ 85721, and will also be live-streamed.

This lecture is eligible for College of Medicine DEI credit.

The talk will:

1. Describe cognitive health disparities among Hispanic/Latino communities across the U.S.

2. Discuss a community-based, multilevel physical activity intervention to promote cognitive health in Hispanic/Latino communities.

The benefits of physical activity in preventing, delaying, and managing mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are well documented and suggest that physical activity enhances cognition by improving health behaviors such as sleep and by reducing chronic conditions such as cardiovascular (CV) disease that affect neurocognitive function. Older Hispanics/Latinos experience a disproportionate burden of cognitive health diseases, including MCI, Alzheimer’s disease, and related dementias (ADRD). As one of the most sedentary older racial/ethnic groups, Latinos experience multi-level barriers to physical activity, including cost, environment/ safety concerns, and lack of social networks. This presentation will describe Tiempo Juntos por Nuestra Salud, a clinical trial that tests a community-based physical activity intervention to promote cognitive health, cardiovascular health, and sleep quality among Hispanic/Latinos 55 years and older.

Adriana Perez is the Anthony Buividas Term Chair in Gerontology, Associate Professor of Nursing and Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Her program of research, funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging (NIH/NIA) and the Alzheimer’s Association, is focused on the influence of multi-level factors on physical activity, cognitive health, cardiovascular health and sleep among Spanish-speaking older Latinos with Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias (ADRD); and on changing the culture of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) clinical trials to be more inclusive.

Dr. Perez is a bilingual/bicultural Scientist at the Center for Improving Care Delivery for the Aging, Penn’s Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) and a board-certified Adult Nurse Practitioner at Mercy LIFE, providing community based long-term care for diverse, frail elders who reside in North Philadelphia. She served as Policy Advisor of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN), Public Policy Committee; and was selected as a Congressional Fellow supported by the Atlantic Philanthropies and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Healthy Aging Program to work with Latino city planners, local policymakers, stakeholders, and residents to inform environmental policies that promote healthy aging.

Adriana was awarded the 2021 Research Recognition Award from the National Hispanic Council on Aging and 2018 Senior Service America, Senior Scholar Award for Research Related to Disadvantaged Older Adults by the Gerontological Society of America. She is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, where she served as Chair of the Expert Panel on Aging. She earned her Bachelor’s, Master’s, doctoral education, and Claire M. Fagin Post-doctoral Fellowship from Arizona State University, College of Nursing and Health Innovation.

This free lecture is open to the public.

Complimentary parking will be available in lot 2012, adjacent to the building.

Register by March 20, 2024.