Brain Awareness Week 2018

Brain Awareness Week (BAW) is a global campaign to increase public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research. Over the last few years, many areas of brain research have made significant advances, improving our knowledge of the brain, as well as the public awareness of the need for ongoing research. Areas such as mental health, concussion, autism, brain cancers, and degenerative brain conditions such as dementia, have garnered much media and public attention, and for good reason: there is still much to be learned about this most complicated and sensitive organ system!

CIHR invests nearly 25% of its $1 billion annual budget into research relating to neurosciences, mental health and addictions. The Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA) leads this mandate, in close collaboration with the other 12 CIHR institutes. This research aims to improve our understanding of our sensory and motor systems, our higher thought functions and how to best protect our brains against degenerative processes and to recover from strokes, traumatic brain injuries or post-traumatic stress injuries.

Through innovative programming such as ACCESS Open Minds, we are supporting local efforts to develop the most effective supports for youth grappling with mental health challenges. At the other end of the age spectrum, we are proud to support the CIHR Dementia Strategy, led by the CIHR Institute of Aging. Through the Canadian Epigenetics, Environment and Health Research Consortium, we are contributing to our understanding of how the brain interacts and reacts to our surroundings through every phase of our lives.

INMHA also supports important initiatives relating to substance use, particularly in the areas of cannabis and opioids. For example, in 2014 we launched the Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Misuse, which is helping us better understand the opioid crisis that is affecting Canadians in all corners of our country. I'm proud to note that just last week, CRISM released Canada's first National Clinical Management Guideline for Opioid Use Disorders. We are also actively supporting funding opportunities, workshops and knowledge translation activities to help inform the ongoing development of policies, practices and programs involving the potential harms and benefits of cannabis use

The Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction is Canada's leading brain health funding agency, dedicated to transparently supporting the very best research related to brain health through partnerships with leading organizations both at home and around the world. For example, INMHA is working with the Canadian neuroscience community to develop a Canadian Brain Research Strategy (CBRS), and is participating on the international stage through our work with the European Research Area Network Neuron Co-Fund (ERA NET Neuron) and membership in the International Brain Initiative. I'm very proud of the researchers, our partners, our stakeholders and most of all, patients, who increasingly are driving research agendas and who directly benefit from, and remain the focus of our efforts.

I urge you to consider all the ways you, your family and our communities benefit from the world-class brain research taking place in Canada during this BAW, and to take care of this most important, fragile, and mysterious organ which we strive to better understand every day.

Dr. Samuel Weiss, PhD, FRSC, FCAHS
Scientific Director
CIHR Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA)

Date modified: