A MESSAGE FROM OUR CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
In 2004, the founders of Cure Alzheimer’s Fund came together because they were frustrated with the slow pace of progress. They were determined to accelerate research, make bold bets and eradicate the disease. Twenty years later we celebrate the wins, mourn those we have lost, and remain inspired and determined by their vision.
I have spent much of 2024 traveling the country talking to families affected by Alzheimer’s disease, many of whom are desperately seeking therapies and all hopeful for a cure. Like me, they are glad for our 20 years of progress but impatient that progress does not yet mean solutions for their loved ones. I came to share new discoveries and knowledge with them, but I was humbled by what I learned from them: the places a newly diagnosed patient is determined to see, the daughter holding on to her memories of her father’s wisdom, the husband celebrating his wife of 40 years speaking his name, the wife trying to keep her husband at home. I am honored that these families shared their stories with me, and by their trust in Cure Alzheimer’s Fund and the research we support to accelerate an end to this disease.
So much has been accomplished over the last 20 years. We’ve identified gene variants that can increase or decrease your risk of Alzheimer’s disease. We are beginning to understand the brain’s immune system and to discover the impact of the composition of the gut microbiome on brain pathology. Biomarkers for diagnosis and staging now allow us to identify people with the disease, while new therapies can affect disease progression. Scientists funded by CureAlz have been at the forefront of groundbreaking findings. Our 325 amazing, top-tier scientists from 18 countries collaborate, challenge and encourage one another for the benefit of science. Many of these scientists bring expertise in different specialties and come together through our consortia model to focus on a specific emerging and promising area of science to have the greatest impact.
In 2024, the CureAlz research program hit a record-breaking $30 million in research distributions and support of an extraordinary range of promising science to benefit the Alzheimer’s community. Since our inception in 2004, we have deployed more than $229 million to further research and support our mission.
At this moment, poised for breakthroughs thanks to new technologies and the great discoveries we have enabled, our field and all of biomedical science face enormous challenges. Trust in science has been undermined, and as a society we have lost sight of all the lives saved by careful use of the scientific method and resulting validated discoveries. Research in the United States is funded through private funders like CureAlz as well as public funders like the National Institutes of Health, the world’s largest funder of biomedical research. The uncertainty around public funding in 2025, as of the writing of this annual report, threatens to slow the trajectory of progress we have worked so hard to achieve.
“In 2024, the CureAlz research program hit a record-breaking $30 million in research distributions and support of an extraordinary range of promising science to benefit the Alzheimer’s community.”
The scientists we support, along with their institutions and colleagues, are under immense pressure. We are facing the potential loss of an entire generation of future discovery—young scientists in academia have always been underpaid relative to their peers in for-profit industry, and many will lose their jobs altogether under new policy mandates. Ongoing and new federally funded research has slowed and in some cases ceased due to funding uncertainty. This situation demonstrates the fragility of the system and the important role that private funders like CureAlz and supporters like you play in continuing this important and necessary work.
So, we roll up our sleeves and push forward—more determined and committed to fueling the momentum we have gained over the last 20 years. We are significantly closer to effective therapies and a cure than we were 20 years ago, but closer is not close enough. I remain inspired by the vision set by our founders in 2004. Their commitment and passion still guide us today. Most important are the more than 78,000 supporters who have joined CureAlz to support research since 2004. These significant accomplishments are your accomplishments. I hope you are as proud of the progress we have made together as I am. I am truly grateful for your continued support and the confidence you have in the CureAlz team to get us even closer to ending this disease. Thank you for joining CureAlz in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.
Warmly,
Meg Smith
CEO