June 2026 - Grand Rounds 67

Pragmatic trials have been defined as an essential approach in the national strategy to rapidly and dramatically improve dementia care. It is therefore essential that trials are aligned with what matters most to people living with dementia, their care partners and families, and the health care systems that care for them. Interventions to improve dementia care often originate from researchers rather than emerging as a direct result of asking people living with dementia and care partners to define and prioritize the problems they need addressed. This disconnect between the interventions selected by researchers for testing and people’s everyday experiences of living with dementia is one reason why some interventions do not get adopted into care delivery, despite their apparent success during trials. In this grand rounds, we present the science of engaging community partners in research on dementia care and hear directly from members of IMPACT's community review panel.