Each year, from Houston, Texas, to Hawassa, Ethiopia, you can find neuroscientists celebrating the brain in myriad and marvelous ways during Brain Awareness Week. What began as an initiative to “sell” brain science to the public has since blossomed into a global phenomenon. Since 1996, this seminal event has pursued a simple, yet vital mission: to educate people of all ages about the brain, as well as foster public enthusiasm and support for brain research. And over the years, Brain Awareness Week’s organizers have found unique ways to fulfill that mission. Kathleen Roina, Director of the Dana Education Program, said, during her 25 years with the Dana Foundation, she’s seen everything from middle school brain fairs to poetry contests, and even brain-inspired musicals and operas.
“One of the greatest strengths of Brain Awareness Week is that it was, and remains, a community-driven campaign,” she said. “And I believe it continues to flourish because it allows for the wide participation of organizations and institutions that can tailor their events to the specific needs of their communities and target audiences.”
Last year, Brain Awareness Week activities were held in 59 countries and 6 continents, to bring thoughtful and engaging programming to the masses. Barbara Gill, who was executive vice president of the Foundation before retiring in 2022, said this sort of reach is exactly what David Mahoney, late chief executive of the Dana Foundation, envisioned when he first conceived of Brain Awareness Week three decades ago.
Making the Brain a Household Name
By all accounts, Mahoney, a retired marketing executive, who started working with the Dana Foundation in the 1970s before taking the chief executive role in 1992, used his advertising skills to “sell” ground-breaking brain research to the public—as well as important funding sources.
“People don’t buy science solely,” Mahoney was quoted as saying in the New York Times. “They buy the results of, and the hope of, science.”
“Mahoney understood that people weren’t really interested in the research, per se, but they were in the results—and the hope that those results could bring,” said Gill.
The Dana Foundation launched the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives (DABI), a consortium of leading neuroscientists, in 1993, with the goal of sharing brain research with the general public. As a result, its members immediately began a variety of public outreach programs thanks to Dana Foundation funding. But Mahoney, with his marketing and advertising background, still felt there was more that needed to be done.
“One day, he came into work and asked me, ‘Do you know what day it is?’” Gill recalled. “I didn’t know—nobody knew. But Mahoney had been watching the news that morning and learned it was Prostate Cancer Day, and he asked, ‘Why isn’t there something for the brain?’”
Guided by that very question, the Dana Foundation decided to create Brain Awareness Week. The campaign officially launched in 1996 with the goal of creating a groundswell of interest in brain research.
“Mahoney’s hope was that the campaign would bring together diverse groups with different interests in academia, government and professional advocacy groups,” said Gill. “The idea was to unite them for one week with a common goal that brain research was the hope for future treatments and cures of brain-related diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, the hope for successful aging, and the hope for a better understanding of the brain.”
Global Positioning
When DABI’s European counterpart, the European Dana Alliance for the Brain (EDAB), was formally established just two years later, Gill said European organizations “took Brain Awareness Week and ran with it.” And, today, you will find Brain Awareness Week events across the globe. In fact, more than 100 different countries have participated in the campaign over the years, said Roina.
To further the campaign’s global reach, the Dana Foundation funds two large grants each year to two international neuroscience organizations: the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) and the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO). Both FENS and IBRO allocate the funds to smaller groups with the goal of reaching more diverse audiences, bringing new countries into the Brain Awareness Week fold, and supporting different geographical regions that may be challenged by a lack of resources or public understanding of the brain. In 2025, the grants will help fund 131 events across 66 countries, including programming in places that have not yet participated in Brain Awareness week like Saudi Arabia.
“Now, we see programs in far-reaching places around the globe, places where spreading brain awareness may be even more important since those communities may not have ready access to information about neuroscience,” said Roina. “Having scientists who can step out of the lab to talk to their communities—focusing on issues that are most relevant to their communities—has a big impact.”
Here’s to the Next Thirty Years
Beyond its global reach, Brain Awareness Week is also applauded for creating programs not only for adults, but people of all ages, including children. Yet, Roina said the one thing that really makes this particular education campaign stand out is how much fun it is—for both organizers and audiences. That’s why so many continue to participate year after year, with some groups even expanding the number of events they host.
“The organizers say it’s really fulfilling to see the curiosity in a kid’s face as they tell them about the brain, or to hear from an audience member that a talk or activity was important because a loved one has a particular neurological disease,” she said. “It’s their commitment to the campaign that has allowed it to flourish for so long. And I’m just so inspired by them.”
The Dana Foundation is looking forward to Brain Awareness Week continuing to thrive in the years ahead, finding ways to reach even wider and more diverse audiences. These events, Roina said, help to promote the Foundation’s Neuroscience & Society mission, helping the greater public understand the importance of brain research and its relevance to their everyday lives.
“Year after year, participation in Brain Awareness Week allows scientists and scientific organizations to build closer relationships with their communities,” said Roina. “Those connections not only help people learn more about the brain but also help scientists think about their work in new ways, carefully considering its societal importance and how it can serve both local and global communities. That’s why, I think, Brain Awareness Week has grown so much over the years—and will continue to grow in the future.”
To learn more about Brain Awareness Week and how your organization can get involved, please visit dana.org/brain-awareness-week.
