The mission of NINDS is to seek fundamental knowledge about the brain and nervous system, and to use that knowledge to reduce the burden of neurological disease.
Director's Messages
I'm pleased to report that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative® is moving along at an incredible pace.
The 2016 NIH Pain Consortium Symposium was a fantastic meeting, and I cannot emphasize enough the importance of this annual gathering. It is one of many ways in which the NIH Pain Consortium works to enhance pain research and promote collaboration among researchers across the many NIH Institutes and Centers that have programs and activities addressing pain.
NIH is constantly striving to fund great science by great scientists, while finding opportunities to free up investigators from their administrative burden to pursue their passion in science.
Today's release of the National Pain Strategy (pdf, 1.65MB) is exciting and welcome news
When most people think of neurological disorders, a small number of diseases that affect millions of people-such as epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, and stroke-come to mind. While we focus a majority of our effort on these devastating diseases, we also have very dedicated research programs devoted to finding treatments for numerous rare diseases, which are defined as conditions affecting fewer than 200,000 Americans.
For NINDS, 2015 was a year marked by the launch of innovative programs as well as the flourishing of ambitious initiatives.
NIH supports research on traumatic brain injury (TBI), a major public health problem that affects all age groups and is the leading cause of death in young adults, as well as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a form of brain degeneration that affects some individuals who suffer progressive, long-term consequences of repeated concussions.
Last week, the Breakthrough Prize organization announced the recipients of the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics and Mathematics. The 3rd annual Breakthrough Prize Awards Ceremony awarded 1,370 physicists, one mathematician, five life scientists, and one high school student with a combined total of $21.9 million.