Advancing global brain health

This high-level roundtable, jointly hosted by The BMJ journal and the Chinese Stroke Association, brought together leading experts in neurology, public health, health systems, and digital innovation to examine the future of brain health in an ageing world.

Chaired by The BMJ editor in chief, Dr Kamran Abbasi, the event explored how scientific research, policy, and technology can be better aligned to support sustainable, equitable brain health strategies worldwide.

Participants discussed approaches to prevention, care delivery, innovation, and capacity-building across diverse health systems, with a shared focus on reducing the global burden of neurological disease.

Neurological conditions, such as stroke, dementia, and neurodegenerative diseases, are a growing global concern. As life expectancy increases, health systems must adapt to meet the rising demand for brain care across the life course.

This roundtable builds on insights from The BMJ’s 2020 Brain Health collection and reflects a renewed commitment to global collaboration and long-term investment in sustainable brain health solutions.

Editor in Chief, The BMJ

President of Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University
President of the Chinese Stroke Association

Vascular and Critical Care Neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital
Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School

Founding Director of the Yale Center for Brain & Mind Health
Vice Chair for Clinical and Translational Research for the Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery

President of the World Federation of Neurology

Director of Neurology and the Neurocritical Care Unit in Beijing Tiantan Hospital

Chair of Neuroradiology at Department of Brain Repair & Rehabilitation, University College London
Senior Fellow of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine

Academic Leader of Radiology & Director of the Department of Radiology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital
Deputy Director at the Department of Medical Imaging, Capital Medical University

Associate Director of Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University
Vice Secretary of the National Brain Tumor Registry of China

Director of the Office of the China Neuro-Disease Prevention Collaboration Centre
Director of the Data Centre of the National Clinical Research Centre for Neurological Diseases, Beijing Tiantan Hospital

Professor of Medicine and Geriatrics at the Research Center on Aging, University of Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada
Senior Researcher at the Research Center on Aging, University of Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada

Associate Scientist at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research
Associate Director of the Mobility and Falls Translational Research Centre

Director of the Big Data & AI Centre since 2018
Deputy Director and Co-founder of the Centre of Excellence for Omics Research in Neurological Disease, National Clinical Research Centre for Neurological Disease, China

Associate Director of Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital

Director of the Health Management Centre, Beijing Titantan Hospital

Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

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