Beyond Alzheimer’s: Identifying and Managing Other Types of Dementia

Rita A. Jablonski, Ph.D., CRNP, FAAN, FGSA, blends clinical research with clinical practice, offering persons with dementia and their caregivers the best of both worlds. She is a tenured professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and maintains a faculty practice as a nurse practitioner in the Brain Aging and Memory Clinic, Division of Memory Disorders and Behavioral Neurology. Dr. Jablonski is an established researcher who has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Brookdale Foundation, the John A. Hartford Foundation, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and the United States Department of Defense. She is currently the Principal Investigator for an NIH-funded study that is testing the impact of dementia caregiver coaching on care-resistant behaviors and improving the ability of caregivers to handle these behaviors. Dr. Jablonski is also directing a project funded by the CMS, where she and her team are reducing the use of antipsychotics by teaching staff how to recognize and manage common dementia behaviors. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the Gerontological Society of America, which means two major organizations officially recognize the impact of her work. She has over 50 peer-reviewed publications and hosts a podcast called “Make Dementia Your B*tch!” which was ranked No. 7 in FeedSpot’s “Top Dementia Podcasts for 2023.”