In this episode, Paweł Świeboda talks to Dr. Andy Keller, President and CEO of the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, one of the leading US nonprofit organizations working on improving mental health care delivery. Based in Texas, the Institute works at the intersection of policy and programs to ensure all people in Texas, across the US and in the world can obtain the health care they need. 

Andy is a licensed psychologist with more than 20 years of experience in behavioral health policy, its organization and funding. He has been on a mission helping state and local health systems implement evidence-based and innovative care. He has also heavily influenced the federal debate and policy action. Prior to joining the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, Andy directed a range of community-based and care management programs in Colorado and served as a partner at a national behavioral health management consulting firm.

The conversation covers the mental health crisis and its roots; tsunami of anguish, depression, anxiety and anguish unleashed by the pandemic; importance of preventative care and early intervention; collaborative care model; policy coalition to transform mental health and substance use care; digital mental health and international collaboration to advance innovation in mental health.

 #andykeller #MeadowsMentalHealthPolicyInstitute #brain #mentalhealth #neurocentury #innovationinmentalhealth

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neurocentury.com

Music for the NeuroCentury podcast is composed by Rafał Kulczycki

In this episode, Paweł Świeboda talks to Dr Pieter Roelfsema, the scientist who is on a mission to offer blind people an opportunity to regain rudimentary vision.

Peter is Director of the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience and leader of its Vision and Cognition Group. He is also professor at the Free University of Amsterdam.

Pieter was trained in medicine but found vocation in fundamental science, when his father gave him a book about the holy grail of neuroscience, the problem of consciousness, by Douglas Hofstadter. He works on understanding cortical mechanisms of visual perception, memory and plasticity. This has led Pieter to develop an approach to overcome visual impairment in people with a history of vision.

The conversation covers methods of developing high-bandwidth visual prosthesis for the blind; significance of rudimentary vision; new methods of stimulation, including optogenetics and neurostimulation via nanoparticles; ways of probing the brain; interdisciplinarity of neurotechnology, its prospects and ways of policy to support it; and finally ethical considerations.

#neurocentury #neurotechnology #neuroscience #blindness #neurostimulation #brain

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neurocentury.com

Music for the NeuroCentury podcast is composed by Rafał Kulczycki

The second episode of the NeuroCentury podcast is devoted to how important food is for brain and mental health. 

In this episode, Paweł Świeboda talks to Professor Felice Jacka, professor of nutritional psychiatry and Director of the Food and Mood Centre at Deakin University in Australia. 

Felice is a founder and president of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research. She pioneered work in the field and led some of the first randomized control trials, including the SMILES trial. She is also author of the book called “Brain Changer” on how food should be considered as the basis of our mental and brain health throughout our lives. 

The conversation covers dietary approaches to treatment of clinical depression, how healthy food should be defined, links between our immune system and mental health, dialogue between the gut microbiota and the brain, prospects for personalized diets as treatment options, integration of diet in clinical practice guidelines, impact of heavily marketed, ultra-processed foods and ways of giving people more concrete information to improve their health. 

This is a conversation that will make you look at your next meal differently. 

#neurocentury #brainyfood #brainchanger #brainhealth #mentalhealth

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neurocentury.com

Music for the NeuroCentury podcast is composed by Rafał Kulczycki 

In the first of the NeuroCentury podcast episodes, Paweł Świeboda talks to Robert Joyce, MS patient advocate and embedded patient researcher. This is a very special conversation. Robert Joyce has been a Multiple Sclerosis patient since his early 20s. He had also been diagnosed with asthma at a young age. A car accident in 2014 left him with persistent post-traumatic headaches. Nevertheless, Robert has pursued an active career as a small business consultant. This has not always been possible since fatigue, mobility problems and pain have often been too much to bear.

A few years ago, Robert became active in patient advocacy, starting his blog, “A 30 Minute Life: Living with Multiple Sclerosis and Pain”: https://a30minutelife.com/

He then joined a research project for a new therapy to aid cognition for people living with Multiple Sclerosis: https://cob-ms.com/. As an Embedded Patient Researcher, he became the voice of the patient.

Robert advises the Irish Health Service Executive and pharmaceutical companies. He is a co-author of peer-reviewed publications. His passion for the importance of including the patient in research and improving the quality of life of patients will give everyone much to think about.

#brain #brainhealth #mentalhealth #braincapital #neurotechnology #ethics #multiplesclerosis #patientresearcher #a30minutelife

neurocentury.com

Music for the NeuroCentury podcast is composed by Rafał Kulczycki