Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award-winning music legend Cyndi Lauper has performed on many stages across the world. Now the artist is bringing her talent to Jackson’s Thalia Mara Hall in a concert to benefit The MIND (Memory Impairment and Neurodegenerative Dementia) Center for the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) on Oct. 25.
The MIND Center is a national leader in Alzheimer’s research and patient care at UMMC. Concert proceeds also will support a new research project, The MIND Center – Mayo Clinic Study of Aging.
“The culmination of two decades of collaboration with the Mayo Clinic that will provide a wealth of information we will use toward our end goal of prevention,” said Dr. Tom Mosley, Dudley and Robbie Hughes Distinguished MIND Center chair and MIND Center director.
The new study will focus on participants 55 and older of different races and socio-economic backgrounds to determine best practices for healthy aging, said Denise Lafferty, MIND Center chief of operations. “Alzheimer’s is the only disease in the top 10 causes of mortality in the United States without a way to prevent, cure, or even slow its progression,” she said.
Mosley said the medical center is excited to have a talent like Lauper to perform for such an important cause.
Mosley and his team lead one of the largest and most comprehensive studies ever conducted to identify risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and related forms of cognitive decline, according to UMMC.
“Alzheimer’s pathology doesn’t start when symptoms start, but in fact precedes symptoms by as much as two decades, Mosley said. “Our work has shown links between risk factors such as high blood pressure and diabetes in mid-life, when people are in their 40s and 50s, and late-life memory loss and dementia.”
Lauper is a music icon with global record sales in excess of 50 million. She released her first album, She’s So Unusual, in 1993. It made her the first female to have four top five singles from a debut album.
She made her Broadway debut in 2006, returning in 2013 as composer and lyricist of the musical adaptation of the British film “Kinky Boots.” It won six Tony awards, and its original Broadway cast recording went on to win the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album. It was Lauper’s second Grammy, coming 30 years after her first.
Tickets, priced from $35.50 to $65.50, go on sale at 10 a.m. August 24 at www.ardenland.net. Trustmark is the event’s title sponsor.
To support The MIND Center or become a concert sponsor, call (601) 815-4237 or email mindcenter@umc.edu for more information.
hottytoddy.com staff report
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