AbstractBackgroundAs the US population of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) over the age of 65 increases, the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders (ADRD) in this group is expected to triple between 2008 and 2030. This group includes over 4 million Filipino Americans, who comprise the largest AAPI population in California and 10 other states. Although there is scarce literature detailing the prevalence of dementia among AAPI subgroups, one study found that Filipino Americans had the highest incidence rate of dementia (Mayeda et al., 2017). Despite the expected increase in the number of Filipino Americans with ADRD, no studies to‐date have validated neuropsychological measures in the United States for speakers of Tagalog (Filipino), one of the major languages spoken by Filipino Americans and the 4th most widely spoken language in the US. A major barrier to dementia care and diagnosis is the lack of linguistically and socioculturally appropriate cognitive tasks for Tagalog speakers. To address this need, we developed and piloted the Cognitive Assessment for Tagalog Speakers (CATS), the first neuropsychological battery for the detection of ADRD in Filipino American Tagalog speakers.MethodWe translated, adapted, and constructed de novo to measure performance across four main cognitive domains: visual/verbal memory, visuospatial functioning, speech and language, and frontal/executive functioning. Tasks were developed with a team of bilingual English/Tagalog and bicultural Filipino American/Canadian experts, including a neurologist, speech‐language pathologist, linguist, and neuropsychologist.ResultTo‐date, the CATS battery has been administered to 15 healthy control participants (age 61.8 ± 5.4 yrs, 5M/10F) at the University of California, San Francisco. These preliminary results show the feasibility of the measures but also demonstrated the need to consider effects of bilingualism, language typology, and cultural factors in the interpretation of results.ConclusionThis project will lay the groundwork for norming and validation studies and will help solidify connections to a population that has been underrepresented in ADRD research. As we move towards treatment and cure of ADRD, linguistically and culturally appropriate cognitive tests become even more important for equitable care.