Cohort 
2016

Jalayne Arias, JD, MA

Legal & Ethical Researcher, Associate Professor

We must address the legal and societal structures that expose individuals with dementia and their families to unequal treatments.

Current Work

Associate Professor in Health Policy & Behavioral Sciences in the School of Public Health at Georgia State University

Words of Strength

Developing strategy, networking, creative thinking

Vision

To reduce the social impact of dementia, researchers and policy makers need to address the legal and societal structures that expose individuals with dementia and their families to unequal treatment.

Strategy

Jalayne is currently conducting research to identify discrimination risks based on a risk for Alzheimer's disease and developing potential anti-discrimination protections relevant to employment and insurance.

Impact

As an Atlantic fellow Jalayne received funding from the National Institute on Aging and foundations to pursue studies that can advance equitable treatment for those at risk of and with Alzheimer's disease and other dementia.

Motivation

Research that advances early detection of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative illnesses raises novel legal and ethical issues regarding potential employment and insurance discrimination.

Education & Experience

Jalayne is an Associate Professor in Health Policy & Behavioral Sciences in the School of Public Health at Georgia State University. Her research focuses on the policy, legal, and ethical questions that arise in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, aging, and neurosciences.

She is a multidisciplinary researcher and scholar leading studies at the intersection of science, health care, policy, and law. Her research portfolio addresses critical policy, social, legal, and ethical challenges for older adults and neurosciences. Her prior and ongoing studies have identified employment and insurance discrimination based on emerging techniques to identify risk for Alzheimer’s disease, evaluated genetic data-sharing guidelines in research, considered the relevance of return of research results for recruitment and enrollment, analyzed private payers’ coverage policies for genetic testing, examined challenges to financing long-term care, identified policy needs within the criminal justice system in managing and caring for older adults, and characterized financial and legal decision-making in young-onset dementias.

Jalayne's research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, including a K01 Career Development. She has also received funding through foundation grants and non-profits including the Alzheimer’s Associate, the Marcus Family Foundation, the Hellman Family Foundation, and the Aging Research in Criminal Health Network.

Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Arizona State University
Law
Juris Doctor
Case Western University
Bioethics
Masters Degree
Cleveland Clinic
Clinical Ethics
Advanced Fellowship Training