Michael Ellenbogen was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s at the age of 49. Prior to his diagnosis, Michael was a network operations manager for a Fortune 500 financial institution until difficulty with work-related tasks led to an unwanted early retirement. He is a passionate, outspoken dementia advocate who pulls no punches. In this episode we discuss the trials of seeking a medical diagnosis, living with early onset Alzheimer's, and his advocacy work that brought him to the halls of Congress and the World Health Organization. As a world-renowned International Dementia Advocate and Connecter, Michael has been featured in nationally syndicated TV, radio, and other media outlets. He has written for blogs, newspapers, journals, and websites. He served on the Pennsylvania Alzheimer's Disease Planning Committee and other advisory councils. He was a regular speaker at the Advisory Council on Alzheimer's Research, Care and Services and has been featured in the Alzheimer's Disease International's 2012 World Alzheimer's Report. He represented the U.S./World for people living with dementia at the World Health Organization. He is a world-renowned speaker and has shared his personal perspective with Alzheimer’s and dementia advocacy groups and research organizations, including medical students at Harvard and the United States Congress. He is interested in motivating those with Alzheimer’s to raise their voices and reduce the stigma surrounding the disease. He believes his diagnosis is not the end for him, because he has so much more to give to the world. Michael wrote about his journey in his latest book entitled “From the Corner Office to Alzheimer's.” Read Michael’s AlzAuthors blog post: https://alzauthors.com/2016/06/07/meet-michael-ellenbogan-author-of-from-the-corner-office-to-alzheimers/ Purchase From the Corner Office to Alzheimer’s: https://amzn.to/2UMsRKU Note: We are an Amazon Associate and may receive a small commission from book sales. Read “Dementia is Not the Problem, it’s the People Around Us,” in EC Psychology and Psychiatry: https://www.ecronicon.com/ecpp/pdf/ECPP-09-00662.pdf Each season our podcast brings you six of our authors sharing their dementia journeys. Please subscribe so you don’t miss a word. If our authors’ stories move you please leave a review. And don’t forget to share our podcast with family and friends in need of knowledge, comfort and support on their own dementia journeys. AlzAuthors is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization totally reliant on donations to do what we do. Your generosity will help cover our many operating costs, which include website hosting and maintenance fees, service charges to keep things running smoothly, marketing expenditures to improve our reach, expand our content, and promote our authors, and more. Our ongoing work supports our mission to lift the silence and stigma of Alzheimer’s and other dementias. To sustain our efforts please visit https://alzauthors.com/donate/ Thank you for listening.