Georgetown College. Georgetown University.

Jane Scholl's work with Dr. Sabat culminated in a published journal article. (Courtesy Jane Scholl)

By Theodora Danylevich

Presently conducting groundbreaking research in Alzheimer’s pharmacological treatment, Jane Scholl spent a considerable amount of time researching and working with Dr. Steven Sabat while she was an undergraduate student at Georgetown.

Originally from Lansdale, Pennsylvania, Scholl came to Georgetown as a Biology major who was contemplating medical school, but her thoughts for the future shifted after she took Dr. Sabat's Intro to Psychology class her freshman year.

“It is difficult to describe what it is about Dr. Sabat's classes that is so great,” she says. “His genuine enthusiasm for everything he discusses, the applications that he makes to real life, the empathy he demonstrates for his patients (he wouldn't call them patients though), and his individualistic approach have all left lasting impressions.”

Witnessing Dr. Sabat’s clinical approach in practice left a particularly deep impression on Scholl. “Dr. Sabat really integrated himself into the lives of the people with Alzheimer's Disease that he spent time with,” she says. “He taught people with AD how to find meaning in their lives and how to maintain a sense of self despite the severe limitations of the disease. He also taught the family members of people with AD how to recognize signs that the person was still the same person he or she knew. This is quite contrary to some mainstream beliefs that people with severe Alzheimer's Disease (AD) eventually lose all sense of self and become unaware of what is going on around them at the end stages of disease. Dr. Sabat was able to help severely impaired people to communicate their thoughts to loved ones and to preserve their sense of self.”

Through her work with Dr. Sabat, Scholl has gained a great respect for the elderly.

“I hope that as people live longer and longer, our society can learn to cherish older individuals and treat them with the respect that they deserve,” Scholl says. “Dr. Sabat has taught me about the danger of applying statistics to individuals. Statistics cannot be used to define an individual because statistics are a means of stereotyping people. Stereotypes lead people to underperform and not live up to their potential. It is remarkable what people can do if you only give them the chance even if they are very impaired and most people think that they are unable to function by themselves.”

Graduating magna cum laude in May of 2006 with a Psychology major and a Biology minor, Scholl also co-authored an article with Dr. Sabat. The article, titled “Stereotypes, stereotype threat and ageing: implications for the understanding and treatment of people with Alzheimer's disease,” is forthcoming from the British journal Ageing & Society.

“It should be coming out any day now, which is really exciting,” Scholl says. She spent her senior year at Georgetown researching the article, which “looks at how different forms of stereotyping can negatively affect the everyday functioning of people with Alzheimer's Disease.”

With a critical focus, Scholl and Dr. Sabat examined the theories behind the research that others did, looking at the implications of their findings for people with Alzheimer's Disease. “We came across a lot of conflicting research studies, but by examining the methodology of these studies we were able to suggest why some of the information appeared at first to be conflicting.”

Currently, Scholl is working as a Clinical Research Coordinator at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. “I am working on a Phase II clinical trial of NIC5-15 which may be used as a new medicine to treat Alzheimer's Disease in the future.” Involved on multiple levels, Scholl helped with the implementation of the study protocol, she is recruiting research participants, conducting neuropsychological tests, and is involved in determining safe and effective dosages of the medication. “In the laboratory NIC5-15 has been shown to inhibit the gamma secretase enzyme, which leads to the formation of the amyloid plaques often associated with Alzheimer's Disease. We hope that the NIC5-15 will prevent the formation of more plaques in people in the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease.”

She is happy with her choice to go into the professional field, and she is no longer certain whether she will pursue a Ph.D. in Psychology, though that was her original intention.

“I know that I will carry with me the lessons that I learned from Dr. Sabat wherever I end up,” she says. “He taught me to embrace uncertainty, believe in myself, empathize with others, and think outside the box. I also hold people with Alzheimer's Disease in a very special place in my heart, and I know that as I age I may have more personal experiences with the disease among my friends and family and perhaps even myself. I think that I will be better able to handle these situations and help others through them.”

Scholl loves to travel, saying, “My experiences at Georgetown have inspired me to see the world. I studied abroad in Florence, Italy, at Georgetown's Villa my spring semester.” She additionally spent two months volunteering at a hospital in Kenya the summer after her junior year. “It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I lived in a rural village five hours by car from Nairobi. I spent my weeks in the hospital and my weekends traveling throughout Kenya. I met so many incredible people and had so many wonderful experiences. I've also traveled to Thailand, and there are many other places on my list!”

Scholl is also an avid tennis player, and her other academic honors include the Phi Beta Kappa honor society and the Psi Chi honor society.

“The number one thing that I will take away from my experience with Dr. Sabat is his belief that I can do and be anything that I want. He has always encouraged me to be the best version of myself that I can.”

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