Connectionists: How to register for the January 6-8, 2026, Aspen "Ski Meeting" with Aging & Brain Health tutorials (Limited to 50 people maximum)

[Mark Gluck]

How to register for the January 6-8, 2026, Aspen "Ski Meeting" with Aging & Brain Health tutorials.

Note: Because the banquet room and conference facility hold a maximum of 50 people (including the 20 speakers), registration will close as soon a we have 50 confirmed and paid registrants.


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https://brainhealth.rutgers.edu/aspen2026/


1. HOW TO REGISTER FOR MEETING AND PAY REGISTRATION FEE

Registration is a two step process: First you register for the conference itself with the organizers, and then you are directed to a payment web site to pay the $350 registration fee (which is simply to cover the costs of our facilities fee, catering, and the Thursday closing banquet dinner at the hotel).

Because the banquet room and conference facility hold a maximum of 50 people (including the 20 speakers), registration will close as soon a we have 50 confirmed and paid registrants.

Note: Information on an optional  Tuesday “opening night” dinner will be distributed to pre-registered attendees in November; attendees are welcome to bring family or other guests to this dinner.

There are two steps to registering: (1) Registering online with all your key information, and (2) Paying the Registration Fee. Both are required. Note that after completion of Step 1 you will be redirected automatically to Step 2. Registrations are not confirmed until payment is made.

Follow directions to both steps at the link below:

https://brainhealth.rutgers.edu/aspen2026/preregistration-limited-to-50-and-donations-to-support-student-fellows/


2. BOOK ONE OF THE REMAINING HOTEL ROOMS (BY PHONE ONLY)

SMALL VENUE AND HOTEL WILL FILL UP SOON. Early booking by phone only is strongly advised.

A block of 31 rooms was reserved and less than 10 room are left. Once those are booked, other attendees will need to find alternative local accommodations. Book hotel rooms at the Stonebridge Inn by calling 1-844-330-1859, during regular business hours (Mountain Time) and ask for the “Rutgers 2026” group rate. We expect most people will arrive on Monday, January 5th, and depart on Friday, January 9th, staying four nights, allowing them three full days of skiing, snowboarding, or other mountain recreation and diversion. The cost for the Deluxe Hotel rooms when staying 4 nights or longer—with our special negotiated conference rates—will be $354/night plus taxes and resort fees (for total cost per night of $416.43 for a stay of 4 nights or longer). This room rate includes breakfast, allowing conference attendees to dine together each morning in the lobby restaurant. Those wishing to arrive a day earlier (Sunday, January 4th) and/or depart a day later (Saturday, January 10th), may do so if there are rooms available. Booking early will give you maximal flexibility and options. For those who wish to stay only three nights (i.e., arriving on Tuesday, January 7th and departing on Friday, January 10th), the base room rate is higher, at $404/night (which comes to $476.21/night with the taxes and fees). This room rate also includes breakfast.  There is a three night minimum stay required. We expect the room block to sell out by the end of October if not sooner. However, in the unlikely event that any of our 2 rooms has not been booked by November 21, 2025, these rooms will be released and no longer available at the conference rate. More information on our hotel venue is at: https://www.stonebridgeinn.com/

3. CONSIDER A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TO SUPPORT (AND MEET) A STUDENT

For members of the general public who are attending, we ask that you consider making a tax-deductible donation (to the Rutgers University Foundation, a 501c3) to support travel fellowships for students and post-baccalaureate research assistants planning on pursuing careers in aging and Alzheimer’s disease research.   Any amount is welcome, but those who donate $2,500 or more will be recognized on our web page (if the donor wishes) and seated with the student fellow at one or both dinners so you get to know the student whose participation you are supporting. Donations can be processed here online using a variety of methods (check, credit card, funds transfer, etc.)

https://brainhealth.rutgers.edu/donate/

Donors will be recognized on our conference web page (if they wish). If donors attend the conference, they will be invited to have dinner the first night with the student fellow whom they are supporting.

Corporate sponsors are also invited to: (1) distribute a promotional brochure in our registration packet and (2) have 3-minute slot to give an oral (no slides) blitz presentation at the start of the meeting to tell their story and mission to the attendees.

Please reach out if you have any further questions. Once you do make a donation through one of these methods, please email me to gluck at rutgers.edu so I can make sure to track the donation.

OTHER CONFERENCE INFORMATION

List of Speakers and Tutorial Topics


HEALTHY AGING

Ilona Schwarz (Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, NJ), “Nutrition and diet for healthy aging”

Jennifer Schrack (Epidemiology & Medicine, Johns Hopkins Univ., MD). “Quantitative measures of changes in body movement with aging”

Kevin Heffernan (Movement Science, Columbia Teachers College, NY), “Vascular aging and brain health”.

Susy Stark (Occupational Therapy, Washington Univ. St. Louis, MI), “Aging safely at home”

Rebecca Cunningham (Pharmacy, U. Of North Texas, TX), “Sex differences in aging and brain health”

Reem Waziry (Medicine, Columbia Univ., NY), “DNA methylation and biological stress in aging”


ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE:  RISK FACTORS

Perry Ridge (Biology, Brigham Young Univ., UT). “Alzheimer’s disease in Pacific Islanders”

Michael Koob (Pathology, University of Minnesota, MN). “Environmental stress and injury can cause dementia pathologies”.

Matt Huentelman (TGen Institute, AZ), “The genetics of Alzheimer’s disease and healthy aging”

Jeremy Pruzin (Banner Health, AZ), “The Effects of High Blood Pressure on Risk for Dementia”

ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE:  ASSESSMENT

Elizabeth Mormino (Neurology, Stanford Univ., CA), “Measuring early Alzheimer’s disease in aging cohorts“

Keenan Walker (NIA Intramural Labs, MD). “What the plasma proteome can tell us about dementia risk”

Elizabeth Disbrow (Louisiana State University, LA). “Advances in plasma biomarkers of dementia”


ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: BIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS

Nick Frost (Neurology, Univ of Utah, UT). “How amyloid accumulation disrupts cellular and network activity”

Andrew Budson (Neurology, Boston University, MA). “Dementia as a disorder of consciousness”

Sara Burke (Neuroscience, Univ. of Florida, FL), “Animal models of metabolic function in Alzheimer’s disease”

Omer Sharon (Psych. & Neuroscience, Univ. of Calif., Berkeley), “Human slow wave sleep in aging and Alzheimer’s disease”

Jayeeta Basu (Neuroscience, NYU, NY), “Circuit Mechanisms for Modulating Cortico-Hippocampal Dynamics in Alzheimer's Disease”

Jack Tsao (Neurology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, NJ), “Latest updates on anti-amyloid treatments for Alzheimer’s disease“

Programs from previous two years are at:

2024: https://brainhealth.rutgers.edu/workshop/conference-program-and-speakers/

2025: https://brainhealth.rutgers.edu/aspen2025/conference-speakers-and-tutorials-planned/


Conference Format, Goals, and Attendees Expected

Overview of Format and Goals: All tutorial presentations take place from 4-7pm, allowing attendees to take full advantage of this Rocky Mountain location during the day (if you don’t ski, plenty of other diversions!).  All are welcome; past attendees have included scientists, doctors, biomedical and pharmaceutical industry representatives, government and private funders of research, students at all levels, postdoctoral fellows, and many members of the general public. By offering 20 concise 15-minute TED-style tutorials designed to be broadly accessible (no jargon, no acronyms, no presumption of audience having any expertise in the speaker’s field),  we seek to

(1) Pull attendees out of their academic and scientific silos, helping them understand methods and findings from related fields,

(2) Seed the potential for future cross-disciplinary collaborations,

(3) Facilitate the transition from basic research to clinical interventions that promote healthy aging,

(4) For students early in their career, promote a broader interdisciplinary vision of future progress in these fields, and

(5) Expand wider public awareness and understanding of current advances in research on healthy aging and the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

Non-Scientists Welcome! About 20% of the attendees to this meeting are expected to be non-scientist members of the general public (many from the Aspen area) who have a personal interest in learning about the latest advances in the science of healthy aging and the fight to cure Alzheimer’s disease. Some of these people are also financial supporters of our student travel fellowships, helping us expand access to the meeting. We are grateful for their participation and support.

HELP PROMOTE AND ADVERTISE THIS MEETING TO YOUR FRIENDS

Please share and repost our web site to social media or via text or email to your friends:

 https://brainhealth.rutgers.edu/aspen2026/

Email me if you would also like a 6” x 9" printed version of our poster for your wall or bulletin board.


_______________________

Dr. Mark A. Gluck,
Professor of Neuroscience and Public Health
Director, Aging & Brain Health Alliance
Rutgers University—Newark
197 University Avenue
Newark, New Jersey   07102

http://www.brainhealth.rutgers.edu<http://www.brainhealth.rutgers.edu/>



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