Brain capital
International think tanks, economists and business experts are increasingly advocating for ‘brain capital’ to drive a ‘brain economy’ (1-3). The original concept of the brain economy underscored that “cognition is the ignition” for productive work and innovation; there is a credible “business case” for addressing mental health in the workplace, with brain capital being the product of brain skills and brain health (1). The brain capital framework corresponds with unmet global health needs of brain and nervous system disorders: recent global burden of diseases estimates found approximately 3 billion people worldwide have a neurological disorder and 1.2 billion live with a mental health disorder (4-5).
Low and middle-income countries (LMICs) carry a disproportionate portion of this burden, driving calls for a brain capital approach to boost both brain health and economic productivity by and for LMICs. For example, under African leadership, the 2024 Yaoundé Declaration argues for investing in brain capital as a strategy for economic development across Africa, encouraging member states to adopt national plans that integrate brain health across multiple sectors, including education, labour, employment, finance, technology and urban planning (6).
The framework of brain capital is transdisciplinary, including greater integration with neuroscience, neurology and neuropathology, fields rapidly advancing our understanding of the complexity of the brain, molecular mechanisms of brain diseases, and identifying a range of therapeutics for neurological and psychiatric disorders. However, there has been a downward trend in autopsy rates since the 1950s and inherent limits of animal models in replicating human brain disease (7-8), raising the question: how do we advance clinical brain sciences from a global perspective?
Brain banks
Brain banks collect and store brains of deceased people in a scientific and ethically rigorous manner for purposes beyond neuropathological diagnosis, to include research. Typically, brain banks include both brains which belonged to people with neurological or mental health disorders and controls (‘healthy brains’), enabling case-control studies. There are brain banks specialising in specific diseases or disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, autism, and schizophrenia. Brain tissue needs to be quickly collected after death, while specific protocols vary, generally half is formalin-fixed for neuropathologic examination while the other half is frozen and made available to research groups.
Surveys estimate that over 90% of brain banks are located in high-income countries with donors largely belonging to Western European heritage (9-10), which misaligns with the global burden of disease. Furthermore, such bias precludes rigorous science that considers genetic variability across regions and populations (e.g. targeted therapies), distinct environmental contexts (e.g. untreated neurotropic diseases, air pollution, severe nutritional deficiencies during early childhood) and understanding complex forms of neurological disorders (e.g. mixed dementia due to untreated hypertension).
There are challenges. Brain banks are expensive to set-up and require well-maintained infrastructure with capacities to store brains in temperatures at –80°C. Moreover, cultural and religious views and practices influence potential volunteer brain donations. Examples of brain banks in middle-income countries highlight how sustainable, innovative brain banks can serve their populations and produce scientific advancements (See Table 1). Developing regional and global networks of brain banks is a key strategy to expanding capacities and reach of brain banks but requires significant investment.
Global brain capital & global brain health
Brain banks advance scientific discovery and therapeutic development for brain and mental health disorders—indispensable biological infrastructure for brain capital. Expanding brain banks into LMICs creates vital feedback loops between research and clinical practice, while training the next generation of neuroscientists where the need is greatest.
True science is inherently global and requires universal datasets. Underinvesting in LMIC biological infrastructure represents an inefficiency in global research and development (R&D) capital allocation. By funding brain banks in LMICs, investors and think tanks can catalyse high-impact scientific returns, expand market readiness for novel therapeutics, and build a resilient global economy anchored in brain capital.
Special thanks to Brazilian artist Landiva Weber (Guaratuba, Paraná) for the hero image artwork used in this piece. You can explore more of her work on Pexels.
References
(1) Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health. (2011). Brain health + brain skills = brain capital: Final report of the Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health. Accessed August 31, 2026: https://ppforum.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/MHR_Final_Report_FA.pdf.
(2) Eyre, H. A., Ayadi, R., Ellsworth, W., Aragam, G., et al. (2021). Building brain capital. Neuron, 109(9), 1430–1432. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2021.04.007
(3) Smith, E., Ali, D., Wilkerson, B., Dawson, W. D., et al. (2021). A Brain Capital Grand Strategy: toward economic reimagination. Molecular psychiatry, 26(1), 3–22. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-020-00918-w
(4) GBD 2021 Nervous System Disorders Collaborators (2024). Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990-2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021. The Lancet. Neurology, 23(4), 344–381. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(24)00038-3
(5) GBD 2023 Mental Disorder Collaborators (2026). Updated trends in the global prevalence and burden of mental disorders, 1990-2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023. Lancet (London, England), 407(10543), 2040–2064. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(26)00519-2
(6) Njamnshi, A. K., Fame Ndongo, J., Ngoh Ngoh, F., Mbella Mbella, L., et al. (2025). African leadership in brain diplomacy: The Yaoundé declaration advances the global brain economy playbook for better brain health. Neuroscience, 577, 161–174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2025.04.032
(7) Carlos, A. F., Poloni, T. E., Medici, V., Chikhladze, M., Guaita, A., & Ceroni, M. (2019). From brain collections to modern brain banks: A historical perspective. Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.), 5, 52–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trci.2018.12.002
(8) Kretzschmar H. (2009). Brain banking: opportunities, challenges and meaning for the future. Nature reviews. Neuroscience, 10(1), 70–78. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2535
(9) Mazumder, S., Kiernan, M. C., Halliday, G. M., Timmins, H. C., & Mahoney, C. J. (2022). The contribution of brain banks to knowledge discovery in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A systematic review. Neuropathology and applied neurobiology, 48(7), e12845. https://doi.org/10.1111/nan.12845
(10) Dufour, B. D., Albores-Gallo, L., Luna-Muñoz, J., Hagerman, R., et al. (2022). Hispano-American Brain Bank on Neurodevelopmental Disorders: An initiative to promote brain banking, research, education, and outreach in the field of neurodevelopmental disorders. Brain pathology (Zurich, Switzerland), 32(2), e13019. https://doi.org/10.1111/bpa.13019
(11) Shankar, S. K., & Mahadevan, A. (2022). Brain banking in India: Relevance in current day practice. Indian journal of pathology & microbiology, 65(Supplement), S218–S225. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijpm.ijpm_113_22
(12) Grinberg, L. T., Ferretti, R. E., Farfel, J. M., Leite, R., et al. (2007). Brain bank of the Brazilian aging brain study group - a milestone reached and more than 1,600 collected brains. Cell and tissue banking, 8(2), 151–162. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10561-006-9022-z
(13). Akinyemi, R. O., Salami, A., Akinyemi, J., Ojagbemi, A., et al. (2019). Brain banking in low and middle-income countries: Raison D'être for the Ibadan Brain Ageing, Dementia And Neurodegeneration (IBADAN) Brain Bank Project. Brain research bulletin, 145, 136–141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresbull.2018.08.014
Katia Mohindra
Founder and Scientific Director
Katia Mohindra (BSc., MSc., PhD) is a global health researcher interested in how the biological, environmental, technological and social determinants of brain health can be optimized in low and middle-income countries. She originally trained in the Dan Macintyre lab (using the kindling model to examine the role of the perirhinal cortex in temporal lobe epilepsy) and did her doctoral field work under the mentorship of the physician economist, Slim Haddad (theoretically and empirically investigating how poverty alleviation interventions can influence women’s health). She held a CIHR post-doctoral fellowship in global health at the University of British Columbia and has consulted for a range of international institutions (e.g. WHO, UNICEF) as technical lead in quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research. She has also provided research and writing support to ensure latest scientific findings, as well as clinical and public health best practices, reach health practioners and policymakers.