Webinar — Boosting Brain Health and Wellness in Texas

Brain health disorders like Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and depression have profound impacts on public health and wide-ranging consequences for individuals, families and communities. In Texas, the COVID-19 pandemic in particular spotlighted a growing brain health crisis, with many facing challenges with attention, memory and executive functioning long after infection. Ultimately, poor brain health has critical implications for the state’s economy.

In March, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan listed House Bill 15, which would create a state brain and mental health research institute, as one of his priorities for the current legislative session. The bill, authored by Rep. Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston), would dedicate state dollars toward brain health research and prevention and treatment measures related to traumatic brain injuries.

At this webinar, health experts and leaders from government, industry and the nonprofit sector explored the potential role of such an institute in boosting the state’s economy and improving health and wellness among Texans.

This event was sponsored by the Baker Institute Center for Health and Biosciences. Follow @BakerInstitute on Twitter and join the conversation with #BakerLive.

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Agenda

Noon	Introduction Rola El-Serag, M.D. L.E. and Virginia Simmons Senior Fellow in Health Policy and Director, Center for Health and Biosciences, Baker Institute The Honorable David M. Satterfield Director, Baker Institute and Edward P. Djerejian Center for the Middle East; Janice and Robert McNair Chair in Public Policy; Former Ambassador to Lebanon and Turkey Reginald DesRoches, Ph.D. President, Rice University
12:15 pm	Presentations The Honorable Tom Craddick Texas State Representative, 82nd District James T. Hackett Trustee, Rice University; Board Member, Baylor College of Medicine; Co-founder; The Hackett Center, Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute Huda Zoghbi, M.D. Board Member, Baker Institute; Professor, Baylor College of Medicine; Director, Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute, Texas Children’s Hospital The Honorable Senfronia Thompson Texas State Representative, 141st District
12:35 pm	Panel Discussion Moderated by: Rola El-Serag, M.D., Baker Institute Harris A. Eyre, MBBS, Ph.D. Fellow in Brain Health, Baker Institute; Senior Fellow for Brain Capital, Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute Debbie Hanna President, Darrell K Royal Research Fund; Board Member, Texas Healthy Brain Initiative Stephen T. Wong, Ph.D. John S. Dunn Presidential Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Engineering and Founding Director, Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Center for BRAIN (Bioinformatics Research and Imaging in the Neurosciences), Houston Methodist
12:55 pm	Concluding Remarks Rola El-Serag, M.D. L.E. and Virginia Simmons Senior Fellow in Health Policy and Director, Center for Health and Biosciences, Baker Institute