Catching Up with Jaime Perales Puchalt, Ph.D., MPH

By Kelly Hale, Communications Coordinator

Jun 18, 2024

When Jaime Perales Puchalt, Ph.D., MPH, submitted his paperwork for a Diversity Trailblazer Pilot Award in 2017, he hoped to start working with the Latino community in Kansas City to further Alzheimer’s Disease research. He had no idea that he would become not only a trusted resource for many within the community but that his work would be recognized nationally.

He started lunch and learn sessions at three local senior centers in the Latino community to help educate them on Alzheimer’s Disease and how it affects your brain, ways to reduce their risk, and resources in the community which included the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the University of Kansas Medical Center. And as the sessions went on, it led to seniors enrolling into studies at the senior citizens to limit disruptions to their day but also to make it easier for them to participate by going to a place they already were. It also helped build trust by going somewhere they are familiar with in their community.

As he continued his project, he developed a program titled Envejecimiento Digno (Spanish for Honorable Aging) with an educational presentation to educate the Latino community about Alzheimer’s Disease and is currently being used at Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers across the country.

And while his lunch and learn sessions were focused on the Latino community, individuals from other ethnic backgrounds were invited to attend if they had an interest in learning more.

As part of Perales Puchalt’s project, 50 people expressed interest, and there were five additional people who didn’t attend a lunch and learn session but heard about the opportunity through someone who attended, who expressed an interest in participating. And for the study, 41% of people ended up enrolling in the study.

“When we started, we only had one Latino involved in our research and that person was English speaking, and after this experience, we had 23 Latino people, many Spanish speaking, participating in our research which is really important because of the lack of Latinos represented in research,” he said. “This has really given us a good reputation across the country and people at other centers are asking us how we’re getting Latinos to participate. It also helped that I speak Spanish because I don’t think the translation would have worked as well.”

In addition to working at the senior centers, Perales Puchalt worked with the community to make the presentations interactive and removed jargon from the talks.

And after publishing a paper on his study, he has provided consulting to other groups to help them set up similar programs and presents his work at conferences. And he continues to study not just cognitive aging in relation to Alzheimer’s Disease but also the impact of the disease on caregivers.

Kelly Hale

Communications Coordinator

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