UCLA Health will host its first-ever Brain Health Summit on March 20-21, bringing together leading scientists, policymakers, philanthropists and community advocates from across the country to address one of the most pressing and underfunded challenges in public health.
Disorders affecting the brain and nervous system — from neurological, neurodevelopmental, and mental health conditions — impact more than 180 million Americans and are the leading cause of disability in the country, according to a 2025 study published in JAMA Neurology. Yet federal neuroscience research funding has seen significant 2023, leaving scientists, states and private philanthropy to fill a widening gap.
However, momentum is building in the US and abroad with Texas voters approving a historic $3 billion to brain disease research in 2025 and brain economy frameworks gaining traction at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The UCLA Brain Health Summit is the first event to bring together experts from across these traditionally siloed fields neurologists alongside pediatricians, aging specialists alongside childhood neurodevelopment researchers, scientists alongside arts practitioners and patients — to discuss how to discuss how brain health can be prioritized
WATCH LIVE: https://www.youtube.com/live/GiUU8gerE3g — Free, no registration required.
What the Summit Will Address
Sessions span the full lifespan and spectrum of brain health:
Brain health policy and funding: what states, philanthropy and the private sector are doing as federal research investment retreatsTechnological innovation and AI’s role in cognitive healthModifiable lifestyle factors — sleep, breathwork, nutrition, and exercise — and their role in preventionBrain health in childhood: neurodevelopmental disorders and early environmental exposuresArt, music, dance and creativity as tools in neurological carePatient and caregiver perspectives on living with brain diseaseMeasuring brain health and developing a national Brain Health Index
Featured Speakers Include
Steve Carnevale, Commissioner, California Commission on Behavioral HealthDaniel Geschwind, Senior Dean and Vice Chancellor for Precision Medicine, UCLAHarris Eyre, Global Brain Economy Initiative, Rice UniversityKana Enomoto, McKinsey Health Institute — keynote on human cognitive advantage in the age of AIJack Feldman, Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience, UCLASteven Lewis, President, World Federation of NeurologyDilip Jeste, Past-President, American Psychiatric Association, Director, Global Research Network on Social Determinants of Mental Health and ExposomicsJochen Reiser, University of Texas Medical BranchJake Broder, Global Brain Health Institute, playwright of Unraveled
Event Details
If you are a reporter and plan to attend in person, please contact UCLA Health media relations officer Will Houston at whouston@mednet.ucla.edu