Since 1981, the Stanford/VA Alzheimer's Center (SVAC) has been serving individuals and families affected by Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related disorders. AD is a progressive disorder of the brain that affected an estimated 5.4 million Americans in 2016.

The Center's multidisciplinary staff includes clinicians and researchers from the Stanford University Department of Psychiatry and from the VA Palo Alto Health Care System.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, California Department of Health Services, and other sources, the SVAC offers information, referral services and comprehensive diagnostic assessments of individuals with memory problems. In addition to providing advanced caregiver support, intervention, community education, and professional training, the Center plays an important role in developing a central pool of information on Alzheimer's disease in California.

Our areas of service include Santa Clara, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Monterey Counties, as well as parts of Alameda and Stanislaus Counties and beyond. Our outreach efforts focus on underserved and vulnerable populations, including veterans and ethnic minorities. Our multilingual, diverse staff is sensitive to the unique issues facing these groups.

In 1989, the SVAC joined the State of California Alzheimer’s Disease Program (ADP) as a dementia care Center of Excellence.  Today, the SVAC is one of ten such California Alzheimer’s Disease Centers (CADCs) funded to effectively and efficiently improve AD health care delivery, provide specialized training and education to health care professionals and others, and advance the diagnosis and treatment of AD.