International non-profit Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation expands research network in California to improve access to research opportunities
Washington D.C., Oct. 14, 2025- Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation® (GAP) announces the addition of Sun Valley Research Center (SVRC) a private clinical research organization based in Imperial, California, to its global network of over 100 best-in-class research sites. SVRC addresses the critical gap in access to cutting-edge clinical research for neurodegenerative diseases, serving the medically understudies and largely Latino community of Imperial County, California.
SVRC, Inc. started in October 2007, and since then has been involved with over 70 study drug clinical trials and over 10 observational or genetic trials. Their dedicated research site, which is close to the U.S.-Mexican border, is committed to advancing health equity by ensuring access to clinical research opportunities for individuals and families who have traditionally been overlooked in medical research.
“GAP is pleased to expand our network in California with the addition of Sun Valley Research Center in Imperial,” said GAP President John Dwyer. “We are looking forward to collaborating with the team at Sun Valley to expand innovative clinical trial opportunities and support their work to improve brain health education and access to cutting edge CNS research.”
Research from the National Council on Aging shows that Latinos may be 50 percent more likely to develop Alzheimer’s than non-Latino whites[1], but they are less likely to pursue treatment for the disease, resulting in poor health outcomes and lack of access to medical resources.
Given these disparities, clinical research sites like SVRC play a crucial role in addressing this inequity. By joining the more than 100 clinical research sites that make up the GAP network, GAP-Net, which improves clinical trial implementation by sharing data and best practices across sites, trials can proceed more quickly, accelerating neurodegenerative research and improving the participant experience.
GAP partners with both private and academic/institutional research sites to find cures and treatments for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. There are 6.7 million Americans living with[2] Alzheimer’s disease and that’s expected to more than double to 13.8 million people by 2060. In California, it is estimated that over 12% of the population is currently living with Alzheimer’s disease, and that number is expected to grow dramatically in the future. The only way to find treatments and cures for this disease is through clinical trials.
To learn more and find GAP, visit globalalzplatform.org, and to learn more about Sun Valley Research Center visit https://sunvalleyr.com/.
About the Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation (GAP)
The nonprofit Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation was founded to speed the delivery of Alzheimer’s treatments with a commitment to promoting diversity in clinical research, as well as lowering the cost and improving the efficacy of ADRD clinical trials to ensure that no one is left behind. As part of its mission, GAP supports more than 100 clinical research sites worldwide through study start-up and recruitment activities, promoting diversity in research studies, and giving attention to the citizen scientists who make research possible.
[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9322823/
[2] https://www.cdc.gov/alzheimers-dementia/about/index.html