History of The Garrison Institute on Aging

In 1999, TTUHSC leadership identified aging as a strategic priority for the 21st Century.
The Board of Regents approved the establishment of the Institute for Healthy Aging which was renamed in February 2005, in honor of Mildred and Shirley L. Garrison. Today we are known as the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Garrison Institute on Aging. 

From our humble roots, the GIA has sprouted and grown into what will one day be known as the state and national hub for all dementia and aging centered care and research. We are advancing and disseminating knowledge about healthy aging and aging related health issues, including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, through basic and translational research, and community outreach and education, proving our worth as a resource to the general public and the research community. Our Institute would not be where we are today, without the steady hand of guidance from the GIA's Executive Director, Dr. Volker Neugebauer. Dr. Neugebauer has been Executive Director of the GIA for the last 5 years. His leadership has driven our team, and inspired the growth of which we all witness today, which led to his recent appointment, becoming a Grover E. Murray Professor And University Distinguished Professor Chair.

We now house a newly created memory clinic, as well as a behavioral testing and electrophysiology facility, molecular biology laboratories, brain bank, and a longitudinal epidemiological data based on aging in a multiethnic adult samples from rural communities of West Texas (Project FRONTIER). Aging-related nervous system dysfunctions represent a major health care problem in this country and worldwide. The better understanding of disease mechanisms is needed to develop novel and improved diagnostic and therapeutic tools and strategies. GIA provides the infrastructure and expertise for collaborative efforts of basic scientists and clinicians from various disciplines and specialties in the area of aging-related and neurodegenerative disorders.