Staging of Alzheimer disease (AD) severity via global assessment measures is commonplace in clinical and research settings and is useful for many reasons. Clinically, knowledge of dementia severity is helpful for rapid communication about the disease, for making management decisions, and for selection of pharmacologic options that have been approved for different levels of disease severity.^1-3 In research settings, staging of dementia severity is valuable for operationally defining homogeneous patient populations for comparison purposes and end points for research studies monitoring progression.² In addition, staging of dementia severity is critical for clinical trials, as outlined by the US Food and Drug Administration's Guidelines for the Clinical Evaluation of Antidementia Drugs,^4(p15) which states that the

The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE)¹ is the most commonly administered psychometric screening assessment of cognitive functioning. The MMSE is used to screen patients for cognitive impairment, track changes in cognitive functioning over time, and often to assess the effects of therapeutic agents on cognitive function.² Since its development, there has been a wealth of literature published on the MMSE, demonstrating it to be a relatively sensitive marker of overt dementia.^3-5 Its utility decreases, however, when patients with mild cognitive decline and psychiatric conditions are assessed.^6-8

Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRDs) are a global crisis facing the aging population and society as a whole. With the numbers of people with ADRDs predicted to rise dramatically across the world, the scientific community can no longer neglect the need for research focusing on ADRDs among underrepresented ethnoracial diverse groups. The Alzheimer's Association International Society to Advance Alzheimer's Research and Treatment (ISTAART; alz.org/ISTAART ) comprises a number of professional interest areas (PIAs), each focusing on a major scientific area associated with ADRDs. We leverage the expertise of the existing international cadre of ISTAART scientists and experts to synthesize a cross‐PIA white paper that provides both a concise “state‐of‐the‐science” report of ethnoracial factors across PIA foci and updated recommendations to address immediate needs to advance ADRD science across ethnoracial populations.