Statement of Purpose
Staffed by an all-volunteer Board composed principally of family members, the Foundation since its inception has supported public education and high-grade academic medical research projects associated with age-related cognitive diseases and other disorders of the brain and its end-related organs of special sense. The Foundation only supports preselected organizations and does not accept unsolicited proposals or donations.
Institutional Large Grant provision is extended by invitation only. The Foundation underwrites Daycare and Respite Care grants for specifically qualified indigent individuals with dementia who are able to appreciate the attributes and offerings of such care.
Qualifications are enumerated below.
After many years supporting research in neurodegeneration and dementia basic science, the Foundation established the first The Mary Oakley Foundation Chair in Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2017. In 2018, the Foundation became a member of the Zenith Society of the Alzheimer’s Association, one of 68 then members, offering Grants designated to support the International Research Grant Program, the LEARN Extension and the Longitudinal Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease Study (LEADS). In 2021, the Foundation established the Mary Oakley Foundation
Professorship of Neurodegeneration at the University of California, San Francisco. In 2024, the Foundation established the Mary Oakley Foundation Professorship of Neuroethics at the University of California, San Francisco. A Professorship of Neurodegeneration is in development at the University of California, Davis Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.
At the local level, Individual Respite Grants and Family Services programs and public education seminars have been funded in conjunction with the Alzheimer’s Association’s California Central Coast Chapter. The Foundation currently funds and supports a Daycare Program and Respite Care Program in conjunction with a long-established renown facility in its primary service area dedicated to seniors who may safely live at home with family, along with major research projects in Alzheimer’s Disease at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The Foundation also supports Alzheimer’s Disease International in information dissemination, its Annual World Alzheimer’s Report and its Annual Meeting which is accessible to all via the Internet.