EP 129 :: Alz Buddies :: Friendships Between Students & Alzheimer's Residents :: Jillian Lee

For many students, the college experience involves 24-hour cramming sessions, annoying group projects, and partying for days. But for Jillian Lee of National Alzheimer’s Buddies (NAB), a nonprofit pairing students with Alzheimer’s patients, college is a time to build bridges towards a society with equitable dementia care. Like so many, she knows that there’s a special connection between seniors and young people as they are each reassessing priorities in life. This helps build a friendship and bring out the beauty of the individual patients while helping students discover who they are beyond the classroom.

Jillian is Chief Executive Officer for National Alzheimer’s Buddies (NAB), a nonprofit pairing college students with Alzheimer’s patients (Buddies). NAB is an intergenerational movement responding to the profound isolation and social disengagement experienced by people in the intermediate-to-late-stages of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) who are living in long-term care facilities. We build meaningful, lasting relationships with residents during weekly one-on-one visits.

She is currently in graduate school at Wake Forest University. She is in the Neuroscience Ph.D. program with a primary focus in Alzheimer’s Research. She graduated her undergraduate studies at Boston College ‘21 studying Neuroscience and Philosophy. 

Get to know NAB a little better by viewing their annual report.

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