Alzheimer's disease centers and the dementias of aging program of the national institute on aging: a brief overview.

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has stimulated many recent landmark advances in the understanding and treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementing disorders. This progress is due in part to an extramural network of AD Centers (ADCs) that was established 15 years ago as a component of the NIA Dementias of Aging Program. The ADCs provide a unique infrastructure to support and augment studies on the pathobiology of AD and related disorders as well as to educate scientists and the public about these neurodegenerative dementias. The mission and structure of the ADC network are summarized to illustrate how the ADCs play important roles in accelerating development of effective therapies for AD and related disorders.