Description:

Interest in the genetics of dementia has increased with the availability of new treatments and clinical trials. This presentation will review the genetics of Alzheimer’s disease and Frontotemporal dementia. We will then discuss reasons, implications, and the process for testing someone with dementia as well as testing relatives who are at risk for inheriting a dementia-related gene. Making the decision to have genetic testing requires careful thought.

About the Presenter:

Jill Goldman is a Professor of Genetic Counseling in Neurology at Columbia University Medical Center. She has specialized in hereditary neurological diseases such as FTD, Prion disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Huntington’s disease.  She is on the faculty of the Columbia University Master’s Program in Genetic Counseling. Additionally, she leads a support group for caregivers of people with frontotemporal dementia. She also created and coordinates “A Friend for Rachel”, a companionship program in which people with early to moderate dementia are paired with Columbia pre-medical students. Ms. Goldman has authored many papers and book chapters including: “Genetic counseling and testing for Alzheimer disease: joint practice guidelines of the American College of Medical Genetics and the National Society of Genetic Counselors” (Genet Med. 2011). She is the editor of the textbook: Genetic Counseling for Adult Neurogenetic Disease: A Casebook for Clinicians, Springer, 2015. Ms. Goldman is an emeritus member of the medical advisory council of the Association for Frontotemporal Dementia (AFTD) Board and  presently an AFTD Board of Director,  and Chair of the Advisory Board for the Columbia University Genetic Counseling Master’s Program.

Wednesday, March 11th, 2026 from 5:00 – 7:00 PM at the Alzheimer Society of Toronto Head Office located at 20 Eglinton Ave W, 16th Floor.

Mid-Town Social focuses on social wellness for people with Dementia and their care partners. In this series, we create purposeful connections among people who are on similar journeys while engaging in a variety of engaging activities including art making, games, creative movement, cooking, meaningful conversations and more. The program is flexible and will be catered to the interests and needs of the group participants. Let’s come together, break bread, have a laugh and be creative together.

Wednesday, February 11h, 2026 from 5:00 – 7:00 PM at the Alzheimer Society of Toronto Head Office located at 20 Eglinton Ave W, 16th Floor.

Mid-Town Social focuses on social wellness for people with Dementia and their care partners. In this series, we create purposeful connections among people who are on similar journeys while engaging in a variety of engaging activities including art making, games, creative movement, cooking, meaningful conversations and more. The program is flexible and will be catered to the interests and needs of the group participants. Let’s come together, break bread, have a laugh and be creative together.

January 14th, 2026 from 5:00 – 7:00 PM at the Alzheimer Society of Toronto Head Office located at 20 Eglinton Ave W, 16th Floor.

Mid-Town Social focuses on social wellness for people with Dementia and their care partners. In this series, we create purposeful connections among people who are on similar journeys while engaging in a variety of engaging activities including art making, games, creative movement, cooking, meaningful conversations and more. The program is flexible and will be catered to the interests and needs of the group participants. Let’s come together, break bread, have a laugh and be creative together.

Wednesday, December 10th, 2025 from 5:00 – 7:00 PM at the Alzheimer Society of Toronto Head Office located at 20 Eglinton Ave W, 16th Floor.

Mid-Town Social focuses on social wellness for people with Dementia and their care partners. In this series, we create purposeful connections among people who are on similar journeys while engaging in a variety of engaging activities including art making, games, creative movement, cooking, meaningful conversations and more. The program is flexible and will be catered to the interests and needs of the group participants. Let’s come together, break bread, have a laugh and be creative together.

Mid-Town Social – Explore Art with Jano
November 12^th from 5:00 – 7:00 PM at AST located at 20 Eglinton Ave West, 16^th floor.

 Mid-Town Social focuses on social wellness for people with Dementia and their care partners. In this series, we create purposeful connections among people who are on similar journeys while engaging in a variety of engaging activities. This session Jano Cortijo, an art educator will focus on Nature, specifically on art that features fruits. The habitual protagonists of still lifes, fruits have been the subject of many artworks because they carry a wide array of symbolism and significance.

Join us with your curiosity and come ready to share thoughts and ideas. We invite you to observe and discuss how the two-dimensional interpretation of a fruit transcends their quotidian nature.

Jano Cortijo is an arts educator whose work finds him engaging audiences of various ages, abilities, and backgrounds in museums, classrooms, community centres, and online. Straying far from the canon to elevate artists and works that have been excluded or erased from mainstream conversations, Cortijo encourages critical discussion while connecting the participants’ individual histories and stories with the art and art makers.

Wednesday, October 8th, 2025 from 5:00 – 7:00 PM at the Alzheimer Society of Toronto Head Office located at 20 Eglinton Ave W, 16th Floor.

Mid-Town Social focuses on social wellness for people with Dementia and their care partners. In this series, we create purposeful connections among people who are on similar journeys while engaging in a variety of engaging activities including art making, games, creative movement, cooking, meaningful conversations and more. The program is flexible and will be catered to the interests and needs of the group participants. Let’s come together, break bread, have a laugh and be creative together.

September 10th, 2025 from 5:00 – 7:00 PM at the Alzheimer Society of Toronto Head Office located at 20 Eglinton Ave W, 16th Floor.

Mid-Town Social focuses on social wellness for people with Dementia and their care partners. In this series, we create purposeful connections among people who are on similar journeys while engaging in a variety of engaging activities including art making, games, creative movement, cooking, meaningful conversations and more. The program is flexible and will be catered to the interests and needs of the group participants. Let’s come together, break bread, have a laugh and be creative together.

Wednesday, June 11th, 2025 from 5:00 – 7:00 PM at the Alzheimer Society of Toronto Head Office located at 20 Eglinton Ave W, 16th Floor.

Mid-Town Social focuses on social wellness for people with Dementia and their care partners. In this series, we create purposeful connections among people who are on similar journeys while engaging in a variety of engaging activities including art making, games, creative movement, cooking, meaningful conversations and more. The program is flexible and will be catered to the interests and needs of the group participants. Let’s come together, break bread, have a laugh and be creative together.

Wednesday, May 14th, 2025 from 5:00 – 7:00 PM at the Alzheimer Society of Toronto Head Office located at 20 Eglinton Ave W, 16th Floor.

Mid-Town Social focuses on social wellness for people with Dementia and their care partners. In this series, we create purposeful connections among people who are on similar journeys while engaging in a variety of engaging activities including art making, games, creative movement, cooking, meaningful conversations and more. The program is flexible and will be catered to the interests and needs of the group participants. Let’s come together, break bread, have a laugh and be creative together.