Brain health public policy and economic innovation received major attention at the recent American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Annual Meeting in Boston, on Monday the 24th of April, 2023. EMEA Advisor, Harris Eyre MD PhD, fellow in brain health with Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and senior fellow in brain capital with the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, spoke at a symposium ‘Novel approaches and targets in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD)’.
The symposium was an interactive, discussion-based session that advanced understanding of AD and PD pathology and patient-centered care. The program focused on upcoming treatment targets, opportunities in digital health technologies, as well as clinical applications and other nonmedicinal aspects of AD and PD management. It also identified how brain health strategies can improve the lives of people living with neurodegenerative diseases.
Dr Eyre’s talk was titled ‘Optimizing brain health across the lifespan: Insights from policy and public health’. He provided an overview on exquisite public health and economic challenges, aa brain health primer, exemplar public health, policy and economic projects, and future directions. Eyre noted the Brain Capital Alliance and Brain Capital Dashboard which have been developed in close collaboration with EMEA. Eyre concluded with a call to action to the neurology community to infuse brain health into their clinical work and also to engage more deeply in public health, policy and brain health-related political debates.
In addition to Dr Eyre, speakers were diverse experts and included:
- Jeffrey Cummings, M.D., Sc.D., Joy Chambers-Grundy Professor of Brain Science, Director of the Chambers-Gundy, Center for Transformative Neuroscience, University of Nevada Las Vegas
- Rhoda Au, Ph.D., Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Public Health
- Roger Barker, BA, MBBS, MRCP, PhD, Professor of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Consultant Neurologist, Addenbrooke’s Hospital Cambridge
- Sharon Cohen, MD, FRCPC, Medical Director, Toronto Memory Program
- Rachel Dolhun, M.D., DipABLM, SVP Medical Communications, Michael J. Fox Foundation
- Malu Gamez Pansey Ph.D., Norman and Susan Fixel Chair in Parkinson’s Disease, Professor of Neuroscience and Neurology, College of Medicine, University of Florida
- Harini Sarva. M.D., Associate Professor of Clinical Neurology, Weill Cornell Medical College
The American Academy of Neurology is the world’s largest association of neurologists and neuroscience professionals, with 38,000 members. The AAN is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, migraine, multiple sclerosis, concussion, Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy.
This educational symposium was supported by Novo Nordisk however no mentions were given on their pharmaceutical products during this symposium.
