Oldfield ceremony a family affair for the Padalas

Prasad Padala, M.D., right, and Kalpana Padala, M.B.B.S., second from left, with their daughter, Sanjana, and Kalpana’s mother, Vimalabai Jadhav, after the Olfield award ceremony on Monday. At the ceremony, Dr. Prasad Padala received the Vada Kinman Oldfield Alzheimer’s Research Award while Dr. Kalpana Padala received the Nancy and Ronald Reagan Alzheimer’s Scholarship Fund Award.

The late Col. Barney Oldfield would have loved that two research awards he established went to Prasad Padala, M.D., and his wife, Kalpana Padala, M.B.B.S., on Monday.

Oldfield — whose love for his wife, Vada Kinman Oldfield, was well documented — would have found the family angle of having the awards go to a couple very pleasing, former State Sen. Ardyce Bohlke said.

“Maybe in the future we’ll give an award to your beautiful daughter,” Bohlke joked to the Padalas and their young daughter, Sanjana, at a ceremony Monday to honor the couple. Bohlke is executive director for Nebraska Dollars for Scholars organization, which the Oldfield Matches in funding the awards each year.

Past Oldfield Winners 2006 — Jonathan Kipnis, Ph.D. 2005 — Daniel Murman, M.D. 2004 — Shinji Sato, Ph.D. 2003 — Brenda Keller, M.D. 2002 — Anuja Ghorpade, Ph.D. 2001 — Daryl Bohac, Ph.D. 2000 — Tsuneya Ikezu, M.D. 1999 — Vince Thomas, Ph.D.

Dr. Prasad Padala, an assistant professor in UNMC’s psychiatry department, received the Ninth Annual Vada Kinman Oldfield Alzheimer’s Research Award while Dr. Kalpana Padala, house officer in internal medicine education, received the Nancy and Ronald Reagan Alzheimer’s Scholarship Fund Award.

Dr. Prasad Padala was recognized for his work in treating apathy in patients with Alzheimer’s dementia (AD) by using methylphenidate, more commonly known as Ritalin.

Using Ritalin in clinical research, Dr. Padala has documented significant decreases in apathy among patients with AD.

“Apathy is the most common behavioral problem reported in patients with Alzheimer’s dementia,” Dr. Padala said. “It’s also the easiest to treat but unfortunately the most neglected.”

Dr. Kalpana Padala said she will use the Reagan award to pursue her research into pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s dementia, particularly in understanding why cholesterol medicines known as statins seem to improve memory in some people and decrease memory in others.

“The goal is to find out what about the statins sometimes causes problems with cognition,” Dr. Padala said.

The Padalas are valuable members of UNMC’s research team, especially because much of their work is clinical research, said Jane Potter, M.D., professor and chief of the section of geriatrics and gerontology.

Past Reagan Scholarship winners 2007 — Kalpana Padala, M.B.B.S. 2006 — Heather Titman, M.D., 2005 — Prasad Padalla, M.D.

“Quality clinical researchers are especially vital to UNMC and such work falls in directly with a push by the chancellor to increase our clinical and translational research capabilities,” Dr. Potter said.

The Oldfield research award carries a $10,000 stipend while the Reagan scholarship, which Prasad Padala received in 2005, carries a $5,000 stipend.

Oldfield established the Vada Kinman Oldfield Award at UNMC in 1999 in honor of his wife, who died that year after an 11-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

The Kinman-Oldfield Family foundation established the Reagan award to honor the late president, who battled Alzheimer’s for 10 years. Oldfield met Reagan in 1939 and later became his publicist. The award recognizes scientists for promising research into Alzheimer’s disease.