10 Attendee Zane Martin is relaxing in an adjacent, elegant meeting space, where a classical trio provides background music to those seated at linen-topped round tables. Martin is a program officer at the National Institutes of Health, where she helps brain researchers, when they apply for grants, make sure what they’re asking for is aligned with the NIH mission. She arrived early in Philly (it’s a quick Amtrak ride from the NIH in Washington, D.C.) for preconference work, and loved spending her down- time walking through Chinatown, toward the Delaware River, just taking in the sights and sizing up the city’s vibrant restaurant scene. “I’ve been to Philly before and have seen all the history stuff — that’s the most important, right? So this time, I’m focusing on leisure and enjoyment,” she says. “It balances the science of the conference,” where she’s been taking in information relevant to her program field — drug development. “Alzheimer’s is such a complex disease, and the conference addresses every aspect of it. It can be overwhelming if you don’t focus on your specific area of interest.” Seated at her table, taking it all in, is Khalid Iqbal, a kind of godfather of this conference. He’s a professor of neuroscience and chairman of the department of neurochemistry at the New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities. And he was an organizer of the very first Alzheimer’s conference. “We had just 300 people, not thousands,” marvels Iqbal, who is attending the conference with his colleagues Chunling Dai and Fei Liu. “It gives me enormous pleasure to see how it has grown.” That’s because the world’s understanding of the human brain has grown exponentially since that first conference, accelerated by increasingly nuanced discoveries of the role that the nervous system plays in human behavior and disease. All of which informs the research and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. And all of which is reflected in the Alzheimer’s Association’s commitment to fostering the next generation of leaders in the cause by supporting student and early-career scientists. “One thing that I loved about coming to the conference as a student was how everyone really wanted junior voices to contribute to the discourse, the research, and all of the discussions that were happening around the halls. I felt really supported,” says Oz Ismail, who these days is the Alzheimer’s Association’s director of scientific programs. “I had never been to a conference where people were really invested in you as a junior researcher.” Students are eligible to apply for association awards, to include posters of their work in the conference exhibit hall, even to present their work at the podium alongside more veteran researchers. “I was blown away when I did that, at my first two conferences. As a student, I never thought I’d have the opportunity to give a podium talk. It drove me to get even more invested,” says Ismail. The association has created such a strong space for early career voices, and we’re still constantly asking, how can we recognize the next generation? How can we elevate them, get them into the association, and keep them in the field?” he says. “That thread has run through the organization and this conference for a long time.” He can tick off names of colleagues who, as students, attended past conferences with him. One is now on the faculty at Harvard, another is a senior medical science liaison at GE. “So there’s a kind of pipeline of people who enter this conference as students and then transition into the next generation of future leaders,” he says. Appealing to such a broadly intergenerational group of attendees is top of mind for AAIC organizers when deciding what kinds of entertainment and recreation to offer at the annual meeting. This year’s welcome party at The Franklin Institute, for example, mixes science and fun in ways that appeal to all generations. And the 7am “Rocky Run” is a draw for any early-bird runner
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