A national commitment to improve the U.S. population’s brain health through research, education and investment can provide economic benefits, according to an expert from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
Harris Eyre, lead of the Neuro-Policy Program and the Harry Z. Yan and Weiman Gao Senior Fellow in Brain Health at the Baker Institute, is dedicated to fostering awareness, knowledge, skills, tools and leadership for the brain economy across public, nonprofit and private sectors. During the successful Rice-sponsored Brain House at the World Economic Forum, he co-authored a commentary with the American Heart Association (AHA), a 100-year-old, storied American institution, arguing the organization is well-positioned to lead efforts in brain health given the close link between heart and brain health.
“Cardiovascular risk factors also impact brain health, and lifestyle choices promoting heart health such as exercise or a Mediterranean diet also benefit brain health. The AHA’s model for heart health, including public education, advocacy and research, could be adapted for brain health,” Eyre said. “Just as public awareness of cardiovascular disease has transitioned from focusing solely on acute adverse events, such as heart attacks and strokes, to educating people about the importance of a more positive conception of cardiovascular fitness, an approach to the brain focused on fitness in a more positive, less disease-oriented way may be timely.”
There’s a need for a multifaceted approach to brain health with a focus on science, addressing life-course changes, tackling social disparities and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, Eyre said. Neuropsychiatric disorders are a leading cause of disability worldwide with around 3.4 billion people affected by conditions impacting the nervous system, according to the commentary. As the population ages, the prevalence of stroke, dementia and late-life depression is expected to grow.
“A broad effort, including partnerships with public health experts, policy makers and corporate leaders, is essential for maximizing the societal benefits of improved brain health and brain capital,” Eyre said.
Eyre argues that an interdisciplinary and multisectoral approach will be most successful. Reaching beyond science and medicine to include public health experts, leaders in child development and aging, policy makers and corporate leaders will ensure that investments are rooted in science and address disparities. Brain capital recognizes that improving a society’s health has economic benefits — healthy brain behaviors include creativity and entrepreneurship, social adaptability and resilience, productivity and innovation.
“Brain capital is like the economic concept of human capital but more directly relevant to the modern, information-based economy,” he said. “The brain fitness of individuals in companies and nations ensures a workforce and population optimally suited to thriving and tackling problems of the future — a brain-positive economic transformation would maximize the conditions that enhance neurological and mental wellness. Currently, brain capital is underdeveloped and insufficiently supported: There are regions with poor education, limited teaching of the arts and inadequate nutrition for healthy brain development.”
The brain is the human’s most vital organ yet typically ignored unless it is injured, diseased or declining, Eyre said, adding that even for those who are otherwise healthy adults, human bodies currently outlive human brains by 20-plus years.
“Improving the health of the human brain has been discussed since the [1990s], but the rise of mental illness and disease has placed brain health as a pivotal goal on the road toward enhancing population health more broadly,” he said. “But in order for us to achieve breakthroughs in brain health as we have in heart health, the field needs urgent attention from legislators and corporate leaders.”
With a background in medicine and neuroscience and more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific and policy papers to his name, Eyre has presented his work at the World Health Organization, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and the United Nations and has led initiatives with the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Congress and Texas policymakers on how government can lead a brain capital transformation. The McKinsey Health Institute has now made the brain economy a key pillar of its portfolio.
Eyre said he is currently setting his sights on three major projects, including a foresight project on systemic investing in the brain economy with the European Investment Bank Institute, the world’s largest public bank. The second project is a world-first, boutique brain economy executive education course at Rice Global Paris Center April 7-10 with support from the Baker Institute, Rice Global and Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business. The third project is a flagship brain economy event to be held at the Shell Woodcreek Campus May 21 and 22. Partners include Rice, the Greater Houston Partnership and the University of Texas Medical Branch.
“An Advocacy Agenda for the Human Brain: Moving From Brain Health to Brain Capital,” published in Circulation, an AHA journal, Jan. 21 and was co-authored with Mitchell Elkind, AHA chief clinical science officer, and Cheryl Pegus, AHA board member.