On March 11, 2026, the Cleveland Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (CADRC) gathered at the Holiday Inn Cleveland for our annual External Advisory Committee (EAC) Meeting. This all-day event serves as a vital touchpoint for our center, bringing together outside experts and our NIH Program Officer to review the strides we’ve made over the past year.

What is the EAC Meeting?
Think of the EAC as a "rigorous check-up" for our research mission. We invited experts from other Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers (ADRCs) across the country to look under the hood of our operations. Throughout the day, our team presented updates on our progress, our current grant cycle, and our ongoing impact on the research community.

Why External Review Matters
Science doesn't happen in a vacuum. To ensure we are providing the best possible resources for Alzheimer’s and related dementia research, we rely on these objective, outside perspectives to evaluate:

• Program Effectiveness: Are our initiatives meeting their stated goals?
• Collaboration: How effectively are we sharing data and interacting with national partners like National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC), National Centralized Repository for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (NCRAD), and Standardized Centralized Alzheimer’s Neuroimaging (SCAN) at the University of Southern California's Laboratory of Neuro Imaging (LONI)?
• Future Focus: What emerging areas of research should we prioritize in the coming years?

Looking Ahead
The feedback we received on March 11th is invaluable. The EAC and our NIH Program Officer highlighted what is working well and offered specific recommendations for growth.

We are now using these insights to reshape our strategic plans. This ensures that the CADRC remains on the cutting edge of science while staying deeply committed to our ultimate goal: helping as many people as possible in both the public and the research communities.