Film Producer Ashok Amritraj to Chair Campaign to Support Global Alzheimer’s Partnership Between U.S. & India

LOS ANGELES, CA – Driven by a deep, personal commitment to end Alzheimer’s disease, film producer Ashok Amritraj will chair a key expansion of an aging research partnership between NIH and India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The expansion project chaired by Amritraj will be funded through the nonprofit BrightFocus Foundation.

India is uniquely poised to contribute to the global effort to defeat Alzheimer’s disease with its diverse, multi-generational population essential to understanding the complexities of aging and dementia. By adding a key Alzheimer’s component to an existing bilateral project, the research will span across 30 states in India, gathering blood samples and ancestral histories from 7,200 study volunteers. The knowledge gained from this effort will be critical in helping better understand, treat, and prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

Amritraj states, “I am proud of my heritage and the privilege of serving India and the United Nations as a Goodwill Ambassador. As someone whose family has been touched by Alzheimer’s, I reached out to BrightFocus to offer my help and support because of the great respect I have for the innovative, high-risk, high-reward research they fund around the globe.”

“Ashok has boldly stepped forward at this critical juncture for Alzheimer’s research. Scientists are making great progress, but with our world’s older population increasing so rapidly, there has never been a more urgent time to invest in a cure,” said BrightFocus President and CEO Stacy Pagos Haller.

BrightFocus Foundation is a premier private funder of research and public awareness to defeat Alzheimer’s disease, macular degeneration, and glaucoma, with a current portfolio of over 260 projects in its $65 million worldwide commitment to research.