
Family history, compassion, a sense of moral obligation and an intense interest in the workings of the brain are what drove Caitlin McManus to intern at the Memory and Aging Program at Butler Hospital, a leading center of Alzheimer’s research.
Thanks in part to that internship, the recent Rhode Island College graduate now knows exactly what will come next for her: graduate studies in Psychology and a PhD in Neuropsychology in preparation for a career researching Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
“Ever since I started at RIC in Psychology I’ve had it in the back of my mind that this is what I want to do,” McManus says.
“I have a family history of Alzheimer’s disease on my father’s side and a long line of family members who‘ve had the disease. So I’ve seen first-hand how devastating the effects of it can be, not only on the patient but on family members as well. It’s made me feel a moral obligation to help fight this disease and it has given me a sense of purpose to help however I can.”
When McManus had the opportunity to do an internship, the Memory and Aging Program was her first choice.
“I’d been keeping an eye on what the Memory and Aging Program was doing for a while, just out of interest and thought an internship would be the perfect opportunity to get involved. It was the first place I reached out to. I kind of went all in on it and was lucky enough to hear back right away.”
McManus began her Internship in January, 2020. She worked about 10 hours per week and spent much of her time assisting in the program’s outreach office and its Alzheimer’s Prevention Registry. The Registry is a database that’s used to match people interested in participating in research with currently enrolling studies.
“I would reach out by email or phone to trial participants and potential participants to answer any questions and help them to enroll in the registry if they needed assistance,” McManus says. “I also did a lot of shadowing of the research staff, observing of cognitive testing and learning about the tools involved. I really wanted to be available to anyone who needed help, so I did a lot of everything, really.”
McManus says her internship was cut short due to the outbreak of COVID-19, but in the time that she spent at the program she says the thing that struck her most was how immediately welcoming the entire team was, to both her and to study participants and their families.
“They all made it so easy for me to just settle in and feel comfortable. It was just so clear that they wanted me to get as much as possible out of the experience. I couldn’t have asked for more support. Even though it was such a short amount of time, I really did get an immense amount of knowledge out of it; things I couldn’t have learned in a classroom,” McManus says.
“For a lot of people who have a family member who may be suffering from memory loss, it’s very easy to feel isolated and alone with that. It’s so important to know that there are all these people at the Memory and Aging Program, an entire team who understand those feelings,” she continued.
“They understand the experience and are more than willing to have a personal touch. They treat everybody as an individual. You’re not just a patient there, you’re a person who has individual thoughts and emotions about this and you’re not going to be alone, no matter what.”
McManus says she looks forward to returning to the program as a volunteer as soon as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. She’ll begin her graduate studies in Psychology at RIC next year and looks forward to joining the fight against Alzheimer’s as a neuroscientist someday – maybe even at the Memory and Aging Program.
“I can absolutely see myself working there one day and would love to apply someday to be a research assistant,” she says. “But regardless, I’ll volunteer there as long as they’ll have me.”
To learn more about internship and volunteer opportunities with the Memory and Aging Program visit butler.org/memory/volunteer or call (401) 455-6402.
Passion for Fitness Fuels Sam Slezak’s Leadership in National Study to Protect Brain Health
Sam Slezak originally set out to become a trainer for professional athletes. Here’s how and why he became a project manager for a landmark national Alzheimer’s study instead.
Dr. Hwamee Oh Awarded NIH Grant for Study of Neuroimaging Markers of Early Alzheimer’s
The study seeks to identify new cognitive and neural biomarkers of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease, which would aid in earlier diagnosis and interventional treatment for the disease.
Katie Brandt Shares 5 Critical Dementia Caregiving Tips
Caregiver to both her young husband and her father with dementia, now she’s supporting others in the caregiver journey.
Butler Hospital among first in U.S. to launch new study of promising Alzheimer’s treatment
AHEAD 3-45 is a clinical trial for a treatment aimed at preventing cognitive decline in people with preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease (AD).
The Fight Against Alzheimer’s Continues Amid Coronavirus
MAP Director Dr. Stephen Salloway, along with other international leaders in the fight against Alzheimer’s, talk with the Providence Journal and WJAR NBC10 about how the fight to end Alzheimer’s continues despite coronavirus.
Drug studied at Butler Hospital could become first to meaningfully change course of Alzheimer’s
Aducanumab, an investigational drug for the treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, has been submitted to the FDA for approval with a request for Priority Review. If approved, it would become the first therapy to reduce the clinical decline of Alzheimer’s disease.
RI Chosen as 1 of 5 Sites for First Nationwide Study of Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk of Cognitive Decline
The U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk (U.S. POINTER) is sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Association and is the first such study to be conducted in a large, diverse group of Americans across the United States.
Can smartphone technology detect preclinical Alzheimer’s? New study aims to find out.
Louisa Thompson, Ph.D., research scientist at Brown University and Butler Hospital, will evaluate how app-based and online cognitive tests might be used to detect subtle changes in memory and thinking associated with Alzheimer’s.
FDA Approves First Drug to Be Used as Tool for Diagnosing Alzheimer’s
Butler Hospital was one of 27 sites across the U.S. to study the drug flortaucipir through a partnership between its Memory and Aging Program and Rhode Island Hospital.