Former California First Lady Maria Shriver Gives UC Irvine Gender-Related Research on Alzheimer's Disease Another Boost

Former First Lady of California Maria Shriver's support of Alzheimer's disease research at the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine) will continue with a second $100,000 grant to explore the roots of gender disparity, reports the Orange County Register . Alzheimer's affects twice as many women as men, and the latest infusion of seed grant money was facilitated through an alliance between Shriver's Women's Alzheimer's Movement and the UC Irvine Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders. The National Institutes of Health also announced a $1.9 million grant stemming from the first pilot study funded by the partnership between the two organizations. "I believe in the doctors that are here, the researchers that are here," Shriver declared. "I believe that investing in sex differences research is a part of how we get forward. Women are two-thirds of the caregivers and two-thirds of those impacted by the disease."