In 2001, Dr. James Jackson launched the National Survey of American Life (NSAL), the first nationally-representative health survey of Black Americans ever conducted. The goals of the NSAL were to examine how factors like stress, coping, early-life experiences, and cultural beliefs relate to mental health and psychiatric disorders within the Black population. Twenty-five years later, the NSAL remains unparalleled in terms of its characterization of heterogeneity in psychological, social, behavioral and environmental factors within the Black population. In 2026, we are now planning to reinterview this singular cohort to understand pathways of risk and resilience between psychosocial factors and dementia. To be successful, this 25-year followup will need to be pioneering in the spirit of the original NSAL effort. This presentation will summarize the survey methodological innovations of the original NSAL and describe the new approaches we are applying in this follow-up effort. Collectively, this program will demonstrate how foundational principles of interdisciplinary collaboration, team science, relationships, and resiliency are essential in today’s efforts to conduct social science in the public interest.