Valley of Forgetting: A Journalist’s Journey Into a Village of Inherited Early-Onset Alzheimer’s

Join us Friday, June 13th, at 11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET for a Live Talk with award-winning journalist Jennie Erin Smith. Smith will share the story behind her recent book, Valley of Forgetting, a reported work of nonfiction about Colombian neurologist Francisco Lopera and his team’s groundbreaking discovery of the Presenilin mutation for a rare and early-onset form of Alzheimer’s disease.

The genetic mutation Lopera discovered, now known as the “paisa mutation,” causes a familial and near-guaranteed form of the disease called autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s, in which symptoms begin to appear when people are in their 40s and 50s.

Smith’s book transports readers to the streets of Medellín and the remote mountain villages perched high above the city, where this PSEN1 “paisa mutation” is pervasive. She embedded in the Colombian countryside for nearly six years to report the story, following researchers as they conducted medical trials, presented their findings at medical conferences, and educated villagers about Alzheimer’s. She also captured the families’ perspectives while attending intimate family meals, gatherings, reunions, doctor’s appointments, and funerals.

RSVP to join Smith and Being Patient editor-in-chief Deborah Kan as the author recalls the eye-opening adventure of reporting and writing this story of familial Alzheimer’s and discusses why she sought to cover the subject in the first place.