Nature Medicine and Global Brain Economy Initiative Launch Commission on Brain Health for Economic Resilience

Commencing a two-year, transdisciplinary effort to put brain capital at the heart of global economic strategy.

HOUSTON, TX, UNITED STATES, June 10, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Nature Medicine and the Global Brain Economy Initiative today launched the Commission on Brain Health for Economic Resilience, a two-year effort to put brain capital at the heart of global economic strategy.

The Commission brings together leading experts across neuroscience, economics, epidemiology, public policy, environmental science, and global health to build the scientific evidence base and framework needed to place brain capital at the heart of global economic strategy.

Brains are infrastructure: foundational, scalable, degradable without maintenance, and multiplicative when strengthened. Yet brain capital, the integrated value of brain health and brain skills, is largely unmeasured and absent from the economic and policy frameworks that shape national decisions. As brain health disorders impose rising costs and the AI economy raises cognitive demands, that gap has become a material risk to long-term prosperity.

The Commission advances a single thesis: brain capital is a measurable and modifiable determinant of economic resilience. Over two years, it will pursue three objectives:

1. Define the brain economy: Establish a conceptual foundation mapping which cognitive and emotional capacities matter most to economic performance across health, education, labor, technology, environment, and finance.

2. Measure it: Develop a validated Brain Capital Index, building on the Global Brain Capital Index introduced at the 2026 World Economic Forum Davos Brain House, designed as a decision-support tool for governments, funders, and multilateral institutions.

3. Act on it: Enable implementation through policy playbooks and integration frameworks for governments and bodies including the World Bank, ILO, IMF, OECD, and WHO.

"Public and private sector leaders agree: brain capital is a critical economic asset. What's been missing is the global coordination to act on it. That is what GBEI is here to provide," GBEI Executive Director Harris Eyre said. "The Nature Medicine Commission's research agenda will lay the foundation for a brain economy that supports economic resilience and human flourishing worldwide."

The Commission is led by five internationally recognized Co-Chairs spanning neurology, cognitive science, economics, and global health policy:

- Harris Eyre, MD, PhD, Senior Fellow, Rice University & The University of Texas Medical Branch; Executive Director, Global Brain Economy Initiative

- Rym Ayadi, PhD, Professor of Banking & Finance, City College London; Founder and President, EMEA; Senior Advisor, Center for European Policy Studies

- Agustín Ibáñez, PhD, Director, BrainLat; Full Professor, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez; Professor at the Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin

- Mie Rizig, MD, PhD, Clinical Senior Research Fellow, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London

- Simon Fischer-Baum, PhD, Associate Professor, Psychological Sciences, Rice University, Co-Lead of the Rice University Brain and Society Initiative of the Rice Brain Institute

Founding partners for the commission include the Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association (EMEA), the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), the Brain Economy Action Forum, and Project Metis. The Secretariat is housed at the Global Brain Economy Initiative at Rice University.

Read the full Nature Medicine Commission on Brain Health for Economic Resilience announcement.

About the Global Brain Economy Initiative

The Global Brain Economy Initiative (GBEI) serves as a central entity driving the brain economy, working to advance the science, policy, and investment frameworks needed to make brain capital a recognized driver of human and economic flourishing.

About Nature Medicine

Nature Medicine is a monthly journal publishing original peer-reviewed research in all areas of medicine, with a focus on biomedical research of direct relevance to clinical practice. Nature Medicine is published by Springer Nature.

Ellyson Glance
Global Brain Economy Initiative
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