As a child, Beth Shaaban watched her mother, a nurse, open one of the first memory units in a long-term care facility in Sun City, Arizona. The compassionate care she witnessed there later catalyzed her own career in Alzheimer’s disease and dementia research.
“Sometimes I would go with her to work as a kid and meet the folks who were there, and it felt very natural to me,” Shaaban said. “I’ve always had an affinity for helping people that way.”
Through her community outreach and research, Shaaban helps people experiencing—or at risk of developing—dementia. Her work with the University of Pittsburgh’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) squashes stigmas that prevent people from monitoring their cognitive health. As director of the ADRC’s Outreach, Recruitment and Engagement Core, she promotes health screenings and community initiatives that can catch Alzheimer’s, and other types of dementia, earlier.
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