Final days to submit scalable & non-pharmacological Brain Health proposals to MIT Solve’s Brain Health Challenge

Insuf­fi­cient brain health­care is one of the most per­va­sive and mul­ti-faceted prob­lems our world faces today. From the young to the old, the rich to the poor, those liv­ing in dense cities to iso­lat­ed farm­lands, any­one can be affect­ed by brain health prob­lems. Yet, cur­rent solu­tions to this prob­lem are lim­it­ed. While some inno­va­tions have made sig­nif­i­cant strides towards improved brain health, there is a press­ing need for stronger pri­or­i­ti­za­tion of cog­ni­tive health­care and more proac­tive inno­va­tion towards pre­ven­ta­tive treatments.

As a Judge and mem­ber of the Brain Health Challenge’s Lead­er­ship Team, let me share a quick heads up for sharp brains world­wide: MIT Solve (a recent MIT off­shoot to iden­ti­fy and accel­er­ate scal­able social solu­tions) launched a Brain Health Chal­lenge in May…and the dead­line for sub­mis­sions is August 1st — next Tuesday.

Chal­lenge Descrip­tion: Brain and men­tal well-being are crit­i­cal to the health and hap­pi­ness of the 7.5 bil­lion peo­ple who inhab­it our plan­et. The way we feel, solve prob­lems, and inter­act with one anoth­er all depend on the health of our brains. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, brain dis­or­ders that com­pro­mise our men­tal and cog­ni­tive func­tion are strik­ing­ly com­mon, affect­ing 10 per­cent of the world’s pop­u­la­tion and 20 per­cent of chil­dren and ado­les­cents. These disorders—mental, neu­ro­log­i­cal, and sub­stance use—can occur at any stage of life, from ear­ly child­hood to adult­hood, and are increas­ing­ly com­mon. Treat­ment is inad­e­quate or nonex­is­tent in many parts of the world, espe­cial­ly in low-income countries…The Solve com­mu­ni­ty aims to unearth and sup­port inno­v­a­tive solu­tions to improve brain health and fit­ness for all. To do so, the Solve com­mu­ni­ty can pro­pose non-inva­sive, non-phar­ma­co­log­i­cal, scal­able tech­nol­o­gy solu­tions that:

• Empow­er peo­ple to improve their over­all brain health and fit­ness, men­tal well-being, and men­tal resiliency
• Enable ear­li­er, more-accu­rate diag­no­sis of problems
• Increase access to and effi­ca­cy of treatments
• Help build a pos­i­tive, stig­ma-free cul­ture in which all peo­ple feel empow­ered to proac­tive­ly seek bet­ter brain health and men­tal fitness

To learn more about the Brain Health Challenge:

• Overview
• Judg­ing Pan­el and Criteria
• How to Sub­mit a Solu­tion (submis­sion dead­line is August 01, 2017)
• 25 Key Resources to Improve Brain Health and Men­tal Health