2026 Brain Days Programme – UNGA81
The Brain Days at UNGA81 will again serve as a platform to bring together policymakers, scientists, innovators, patient advocates, funders and international organisations to help advance a shared global agenda. Brain Days will take place on 23rd & 24th of September, 2026, at Cure. in New York City. Structured around two interconnected pillars, this year’s event will explore global collaboration in brain health research and innovation — including funding, science diplomacy and international partnerships — and the broader societal and policy dimensions of brain health, including brain capital, prevention, resilience and pathways towards greater recognition at United Nations level. Building on discussions initiated in previous editions while looking firmly ahead, the event will aim not only to showcase progress, but to create a space for active discussion and catalyse concrete next steps for collective action.
Day 1: 23 September
08:00 – 09:00 | Registration & Coffee
- Suzanne Dickson, President, European Brain Council
Speakers will be announced closer to the event.
- Patrick J. Kennedy, Former US Representative
- Andy Keller, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Linda Perryman Evans Presidential Chair of the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute
The community attending the Brain Days are what make it unique and special, and every year the perspectives we hear from the audience bring another layer of expertise to the wider brain-related community, may it be the ‘usual actors’ such as researchers, clinicians, patients and scientific organizations or the ‘unsuspecting allies’, such as architects, investors, start-ups, and key opinion leaders interested and active in the space. This year’s event aims to be as interactive as possible, learning and growing from the audience to build towards stronger policy and prioritization of the space.
Speakers will be announced closer to the event.
Speakers will be announced closer to the event.
- Louise Parr-Brownlie, Brain Health Partnership Co-Lead for New Zealand; University of Otago
- Patricia Conrod, Canadian Institute for Health Research, Canada
This panel discussion will use the recently launched European Partnership for Brain Health as a leading example for growing interest in global collaboration for science, examining its ambition to position Europe as a uniting force for stronger global collaboration in brain research and innovation. Currently the largest multi-country, co-funded collaborative efforts in brain research worldwide, it brings together international leaders from science, policy, and funding communities. The session will explore how the Partnership seeks to strengthen science diplomacy, foster coordinated action across borders, and build long-term collaboration on shared brain health challenges. Speakers will discuss the importance of connecting partners across regions and disciplines to break down silos, align research priorities, encourage knowledge and data sharing, and accelerate scientific progress.
Following the panel discussion, participants will be invited to join an interactive exchange focused on the role and impact of global collaboration in brain health and research. This session will provide an opportunity for audience members to share their experiences, perspectives, and challenges related to international cooperation, cross-sector partnerships, and collaborative research initiatives. Through open discussion and audience feedback, the session will explore how global collaboration has influenced participants’ work, where barriers and gaps remain, and what actions are needed to strengthen connectivity, break silos, and foster more effective collaboration across regions and disciplines in the future.
11:30 – 11:50 | Coffee Break
In collaboration with the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute
Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping how we both protect and improve brain health. From improving early diagnosis to enabling more personalized therapeutics for mental health care, AI has the potential to become a powerful accelerator for brain health worldwide. At the same time, realizing these benefits while protecting vulnerable populations will require thoughtful policies that foster both innovation and safety. This session will explore how cross-sector collaboration can harness AI to improve brain health, with a particular focus on mental health and the policy strategies necessary to ensure that these technologies are safely and effectively employed.
12:30 – 13:30 | Lunch Break
- Ming Lim, Board Member, European Paediatric Neurology Society (EPNS); Chair, EPNS Advocacy & Collaboration Committee
- Liron Sinvani, Director of Research & Innovation for the Institute for Healthy Aging, Northwell Health
Protecting brain health requires action across the entire lifespan. In this fireside chat, experts in childhood neurology and geriatrics will discuss why a life course approach is essential for understanding, promoting, and preserving brain health—from early brain development through healthy ageing. By examining the links between neurological health in childhood, adulthood, and later life, the conversation will explore how research, prevention, and care strategies can be better aligned to reduce the burden of brain disorders and support brain health for all.
Speakers will be announced closer to the event.
In collaboration with the European Academy of Neurology and the Brain Health Mission.
- Jafri Malin Abdullah, Professor of Neurosciences, Chairman of Brain and Behavior Cluster, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia
- Facundo Manes, Neurologist and Neuroscientist, Institute of Cognitive Neurology (INECO); National Deputy, Argentina
- Elizabeth Allen, Executive Advisor – Strategic Policy and Programs, Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction
- Sheryl Batchelor, Founder and CEO, Yiliyapinya, Australia
- Moderated by: Harris Eyre, Executive Director, Global Brain Economy Initiative
This panel discussion brings together pioneering leaders from around the world who are championing brain capital and elevating the brain economy to the forefront of national policy agendas in their home countries. Representing diverse sectors including government, business, healthcare, science, education, and innovation, the speakers will share how they are advancing policies and initiatives that prioritize brain health, cognitive skills, mental wellbeing, and human potential as essential drivers of economic growth and societal resilience.
Beyond showcasing success stories, this conversation aims to inspire other countries and stakeholders to consider how brain capital can become a strategic national priority. The discussion will also create an opportunity for mutual learning among the speakers themselves, as they exchange experiences, challenges, and lessons learned from their respective national contexts. Participants will hear firsthand how the concept of the brain economy is being received, adopted, and integrated by governments around the world — and where important gaps and opportunities remain.
15:30 – 16:00 | Coffee Break
As economies around the world confront demographic change, technological disruption, and rising mental health and neurological challenges, a new economic paradigm is emerging: the brain economy. Recognizing brain health, cognitive skills, mental wellbeing, and human capital as critical drivers of productivity, innovation, and sustainable growth, governments, investors, and development institutions are increasingly exploring how to finance a brain-healthy transition. This panel brings together leaders from international organizations, regional development banks, and development finance institutions to examine the investment opportunities and policy innovations shaping the brain economy. The discussion will explore how public and private capital can support brain health across the life course, strengthen workforce resilience, foster inclusive growth, and unlock the economic potential of healthier, more cognitively empowered populations.
Speakers will be announced closer to the event.
Brain health challenges are a global concern, but they are experienced in diverse ways across regions, shaped by differences in demographics, health systems, economic development, education, technology, and access to care. At the same time, innovation is emerging from every corner of the world, creating new opportunities to prevent neurological and mental health conditions, strengthen cognitive wellbeing, and unlock human potential. This panel brings together representatives from UN institutions, regional organizations, and international bodies to explore how brain health priorities, challenges, and solutions are evolving across the Global North and the Global South. Panelists will examine common barriers—from workforce shortages and funding gaps to inequitable access to services and research—while highlighting successful regional initiatives, policy innovations, and emerging opportunities for collaboration. By fostering dialogue across geographies and sectors, the session aims to identify pathways for collective action that advance brain health globally, reduce disparities, and ensure that the benefits of innovation reach all populations.
Suzanne Dickson, President, European Brain Council
Day 2: 24 September
Suzanne Dickson, President, European Brain Council
Venerable Monk Burin, Executive Director, The Middle Way Institute
- Jeyaraj Pandian, President, World Stroke Organization
- Steven Lewis, President, World Federation of Neurology
- Abdel Fatah Ibrahim, Chair, OneNeurology Partnership
- Alfred Njamshi, Founder & Executive Director, Brain Research Africa Initiative (BRAIN)
Over the past decade, brain health has gained momentum in terms of recognition on the global policy agenda. Through sustained and tireless advocacy, scientific advances, and international collaboration by leading organisations working in the field, brain conditions have increasingly been incorporated into global health and development frameworks. Landmark policy achievements, including the adoption and implementation of key World Health Organization action plans and intersectoral initiatives, have helped elevate overall brain health as a critical public health, social, and economic priority. This panel brings together leaders from organisations that have played a pivotal role in shaping global brain policy and advancing international commitments in this field. Together, they will reflect on the journey from advocacy to policy adoption, examining the successes, challenges, and lessons learned in securing recognition for brain health within global health governance, exploring the factors that have enabled progress, the barriers that remain, and the strategies that have proven effective in building consensus among policymakers, healthcare leaders, civil society, and patient communities.
- Tomás Ryan, Chair, Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) Advocacy Committee; Board Member, European Brain Council
- Mitchell Elkind, Chief Science Officer – Brain Health and Stroke, American Heart Association
Building on the growing momentum on how brain health has moved from advocacy to policy recognition, this panel discussion will turn to the question of how that progress can be reflected more coherently in the way research, care, innovation and policy are organized. By bringing together voices from neurology, psychiatry, neuroscience, and cardiovascular health, the discussion will highlight the shared biological and public health foundations of neurological and mental health and make the case for an overarching and intersectoral approach as essential to support the next stage of global brain policy.
Speakers will be announced closer to the event.
This panel discussion will bring together leading voices from across the brain health community — including clinicians, scientists, investors, industry leaders, and representatives from UN institutions — to discuss why a UN Resolution for the Brain represents a critical next step in advancing brain health at the global policy level. As the international community begins shaping the post-SDG, post-2030 agenda through mechanisms such as the Global Sustainable Development Report 2027 as well as reaching milestones for the WHO Intersectoral Global Action Plan on Epilepsy and Other Neurological Disorders (IGAP) and the Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan, speakers will explore why the time is right to build from these related mechanisms to secure more targeted, stronger political recognition and coordinated global action on the brain across all policies: health, research and economy. The discussion will examine how a UN Resolution could help elevate brain health as a global priority, strengthen cross-sector collaboration, mobilize investment and innovation, and provide a unifying framework to address the growing societal and economic impact of neurological and mental health conditions worldwide.
11:20 – 11:40 | Coffee Break
In collaboration with the Catalight Foundation.
In collaboration with Perkins & Will.
13:00 – 13:45 | Lunch Break
In collaboration with HKS and the Pedersen Foundation.
Speakers will be announced closer to the event.
In collaboration with the Center for Brain Health.
- Dr. Sandra Bond Chapman, Cognitive Neuroscientist; Founder and Chief Director of the Center for Brain Health; Dee Wyly Distinguished Professor in Brain Health; Professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at The University of Texas at Dallas
- Dr. Ian Robertson, T. Boone Pickens Distinguished Chair, Center for Brain Health; Co-Leader, The BrainHealth Project; Co-Director of the Global Brain Health Institute; Emeritus Professor at Trinity College Dublin
- George Vradenburg, Founding Chairman, Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative
- Dr. Krystal Sexton, Founder and CEO, Cognitive Capital Group
How do we move from scientific discovery to immediate, scalable societal impact? In this session, Dr. Sandi Chapman and Dr. Ian Robertson will unveil groundbreaking, actionable insights from their recently published paper in Scientific Reports (a Nature Portfolio publication). Derived from The BrainHealth Project—the world’s largest interventional, long-term study of the human brain—this research marks a paradigm shift from solely treating brain decline to actively optimizing our brain potential. To demonstrate the immediate real-world application of this science, the panel will officially launch the BrainHealth Pulse. This transformative, 10-minute assessment delivers a rapid snapshot of brain fitness by distilling complex, multidimensional brain performance data into three actionable pillars: clarity, connectedness, and emotional balance.
Informed by expert clinicians and validated by a dataset of over 30,000 comprehensive BrainHealth Index (BHI) assessments, this tool empowers both individuals and organizations to track, protect, and continuously optimize their brain health over time. Concluding the session, George Vradenberg and Krystal Sexton will outline how leaders can deploy this scalable tool to revolutionize performance in the modern workplace, advance self-agency within global healthcare systems, and measurably enhance the long-term well-being of communities worldwide.
In collaboration with Almond Digital Health.
Gambling is gaining in popularity, with more than half of U.S. adults gambling last year. There is increasing concern that young people also are engaging in gambling and gambling related behaviors. The rise in sports-betting, on-line gambling and the ease with which bets can be placed – paired with rapid increases in youth gambling – is increasing risks that rates of gambling addiction will overwhelm harm-reduction efforts. This panel will explore practical paths forward, including the establishment of prevention, early intervention and treatment models that can be integrated into education, healthcare and behavioral health systems and supported with research and accountability systems.
15:40 – 16:00 | Coffee Break
Suzanne Dickson, President, European Brain Council