Innovative Practice

Advancing Science-based Brain Health Innovations that Improve Human Outcomes

The work of BrainFutures is focused on four core areas: education and youth, brain fitness for older adults, brain fitness in the workplace, and new treatments for mental health and substance use disorders. 

Among our first projects is the development of a research-based rubric for assessing brain fitness interventions in schools. Our work is focused on clear ROIs for students: gains in executive function skills and, ultimately, academic achievement. We advocate a ”whole child” approach, with brain health as the foundation of students’ abilities to learn and succeed in school with additional interventions to further address students’ health and well-being.

As we grow the BrainFutures program, this section will offer resources for educators, medical professionals, parents, policymakers, and others. We seek to advance shared goals of improving health and mental health outcomes by:

• Establishing consensus standards to guide utilization of brain-focused programming
• Issuing national policy statements and recommendations
• Developing useful tools with feedback from experts and other key stakeholders
• Building a coalition and cross-disciplinary collaboration
• Advancing political strategies to engage national leaders
• Launching complementary public education and communication strategies