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Mary Mittelman, Dr. P.H. Director of Psychosocial and Support Programs
In a landmark study at the NYU School of Medicine that began in 1987 and is still ongoing, Dr. Mittelman proved that counseling and support, individually tailored to the needs of each family, improves the well-being of caregivers and helps them keep their relatives with Alzheimer’s disease at home. This federally funded research study of more than 400 caregivers has received national recognition and an award for innovation from the National Council on Aging. Dr. Mittelman has presented this study at numerous national and international conferences on aging and Alzheimer’s disease and published the results in major scientific journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Gerontologist and the Journal of the International Psychogeriatric Association. A unique new multinational study, being conducted by Dr. Mittelman in collaboration with leading researchers in Australia and England, is investigating the effectiveness of combining social support for family caregivers and pharmacological treatment for their relatives with AD. Additional research being directed by Dr. Mittelman includes the development of a novel supportive intervention for people whose parents have Alzheimer’s disease to help them provide more stimulating activities for the patients with greater satisfaction for themselves, as well as a demonstration project to improve the treatment of people with Alzheimer’s disease and their family members in acute care settings. Dr. Mittelman recently published a book, Guiding the Alzheimer’s Caregiver: A Handbook for Counselors, which describes the methods developed at NYU so health care professionals can include them in their practice. A book for family caregivers on how to get the best medical care for their relatives with Alzheimer’s disease will soon be available. A new book for health care professionals on counseling and support for family caregivers will be published by the AMA Press in 2002.
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 Silberstein Aging & Dementia Research Center New York University School of Medicine © 2002 New York University Ethics and Disclaimer |
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Mary
Mittelman, Dr. P.H., is Research Associate Professor in the Department
of Psychiatry at the NYU School of Medicine and the Director of Education
and Caregiver Research at the NYU Silberstein Aging & Dementia Research Center. She received her training in epidemiology and biostatistics
at Columbia University Medical School in New York. For the last sixteen
years she has been doing research and writing about families who care
for relatives with Alzheimer’s disease. 
