MUSC researcher part of new White House BRAIN effort
May 26, 2015
CHARLESTON, SC – For the second time, Joseph A. Helpern, Ph.D., MUSC Department of Radiology and Radiological Science professor and vice chairman for research and professor of neurosciences will participate as a reviewer for President Barack Obama’s White House Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) initiative on June 29 in Washington, D.C.
“This initiative specifically seeks to fund transformative brain research. We sometimes call this ‘high-risk, high-impact” research,’” Helpern said. “Indeed, a transformative imaging technology like MRI that is now so common today would probably have been a great proposal when it was first proposed nearly 35 years ago. This type of research is so important for the U.S. to remain at the cutting edge of science.”
Helpern also serves as the director for the MUSC Center for Biomedical Imaging, the South Carolina Centers of Economic Excellence Endowed Chair in Brain Imaging, and the Levidow Family Distinguished Chair in Neurodegenerative Disease Research.
According to the White House, the BRAIN initiative is part of a new presidential focus aimed at revolutionizing the understanding of the human brain. By accelerating the development and application of innovative technologies, researchers will be able to produce a revolutionary new dynamic picture of the brain that, for the first time, shows how individual cells and complex neural circuits interact in both time and space. Long desired by researchers seeking new ways to treat, cure, and even prevent brain disorders, this picture will fill major gaps in our current knowledge and provide unprecedented opportunities for exploring exactly how the brain enables the human body to record, process, utilize, store, and retrieve vast quantities of information, all at the speed of thought.
About MUSC
Founded in 1824 in Charleston, The Medical University of South Carolina is the oldest medical school in the South. Today, MUSC continues the tradition of excellence in education, research, and patient care. MUSC educates and trains more than 3,000 students and residents, and has nearly 13,000 employees, including approximately 1,500 faculty members. As the largest non-federal employer in Charleston, the university and its affiliates have collective annual budgets in excess of $1.7 billion. MUSC operates a 750-bed medical center, which includes a nationally recognized Children’s Hospital, the Ashley River Tower (cardiovascular, digestive disease, and surgical oncology), Hollings Cancer Center (one of 68 National Cancer Institute designated centers) Level I Trauma Center and Institute of Psychiatry. For more information on academic information or clinical services, visit www.musc.edu. For more information on hospital patient services, visit www.muschealth.org.
