There’s a New Sexist in Town

BOSTON – "I'm here because Alzheimer's discriminates against women," Maria Shriver said in her opening remarks at the Brain Health Fair on Friday at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.
The 61-year-old former first lady of California and NBC correspondent has been raising awareness about the fatal neurological disease since her father was diagnosed with it in 2003. He died in 2011.

Despite it being her father that suffered from Alzheimer's, much of the work Shriver has done focuses on women, who are disproportionately affected by the disease. She founded the Women's Alzheimer's Movement, dedicated to researching Alzheimer's, and why two-thirds of those diagnosed are women. "If women spent as much time thinking about their brains as we do about our fashion, our lips, eyes, and thighs, then we might be able to beat this thing," Shriver told her audience, a crowd including
doctors, researchers, caregivers, and patients.