Dr. Eric Larson is Vice President for Research, Group Health and Executive Director of the Group Health Research Institute. A graduate of Harvard Medical School, he trained in internal medicine at Beth Israel Hospital, in Boston, completed a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars and MPH program at the University of Washington, and then served as Chief Resident of University Hospital in Seattle. He served as Medical Director of University of Washington Medical Center and Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs from l989-2002. His research spans a range of general medicine topics and has focused on aging and dementia, including a long running study of aging and cognitive change set in Group Health Cooperative - The UW/Group Health Alzheimer's Disease Patient Registry/Adult Changes in Thought Study. He has served as President of the Society of General Internal Medicine, Chair of the OTA/DHHS Advisory Panel on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders and was Chair of the Board of Regents (2004-05), American College of Physicians. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine.
- Describe how research has changed our understanding of Alzheimer’s and late life dementias
- Value the magnitude of the “epidemic” of Alzheimer’s and late life dementias
- Explain that reduction of vascular risk is a promising way to reduce risk of experiencing Alzheimer’s and late life dementia and that these conditions are among the most feared of any chronic disease.
- Apply the knowledge that smoking increases vascular risk and the risk of developing late life dementias and Alzheimer’s disease to promote smoking cessation
- Assess that evidence of declining incidence rates reported in several recent papers argues for preventability of Alzheimer’s and late life dementias
- Visit the Group Health Research Institute website
- Read more about Dr. Eric Larson's research on aging and geriatrics, including smoking and dementia