FATTAH NEUROSCIENCE INITIATIVE

What is the Fattah Neuroscience Initiative?

The Fattah Neuroscience Initiative (FNI) is an innovative, non-incremental policy initiative designed to make major progress in understanding the human brain by intensifying, in a collaborative fashion, federal research efforts across brain disease, disorder, injury, cognition and development. The initiative aims to coordinate Federal research across agencies and draw upon public-private partnerships and the world of academia. The initiative promotes research and discovery across brain cognition, development, disease and injury.

Why concentrate on neuroscience?

Although our brains control all that we do, think and comprehend, we have only a burgeoning understanding of this enigmatic organ. In many ways the brain represents the final frontier of scientific research. In the natural human quest for discovery and knowledge, we have the potential to benefit greatly from an inward look into the very organ we use to ask questions and draw conclusions.

Why is Congressman Fattah focused on this work?

Congressman Fattah is the Lead Democrat on the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Subcommittee. In this role he is responsible for overseeing federal expenditures in the science agencies, specifically the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Congressman has a longstanding interest in science and federally support for research and has chosen to focus on neuroscience in his current leadership role. The FNI will incorporate the work of these agencies, as well as agencies under different jurisdictions.

What does the FNI hope accomplish?

The FNI intends to significantly increase federal investment in neuroscience research, including fully funding recommendations made by the Interagency Working Group on Neuroscience (IWGN). The FNI will also bring together pharmaceutical companies, privately-funded research organizations, academics and advocates to form public-private partnerships that amplify federal investments and accelerate the pace of research. Fundamentally the FNI seeks to advance efforts to deal with degenerative disease, cure mental illness, repair the injured brain and maximize cognitive function.

Why is the FNI important?

Every American family has been touched by neuroscience in some way, whether through concerns about child development, degenerative diseases afflicting older relatives, a traumatic brain injury striking a family member or an interest in improving memory. In addition to implications for individual families, these diseases and disorders have significant national reach. For example, over 50,000 veterans returning from the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are suspected of suffering from traumatic brain injuries and more than 150,000 have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) afflict more than 11 million Americans, and over seven million Americans, many of whom are currently school children, have autism, developmental delays, or learning disabilities. Research in any of these areas has the opportunity to dramatically improve quality of life and human potential for millions of America.

Why is the FNI tackling these issues now?

We stand at a tipping point, on the cusp of significant, life-changing discoveries. Incredible progress has been made in the area of neuroscience over the last ten years and strategic collaboration and investment will allow real progress to attack problems which have long been unresolved.

What has the FNI achieved to date?

In December 2011 the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) was directed by Congress to establish an Interagency Working Group on Neuroscience (IWGN). The IWGN, housed at the White House, was chartered on June 20, 2012 and is currently convening representatives across the Federal government to make recommendations about the future of neuroscience research.

The following departments and agencies are represented on the IWGN:

Department of Agriculture;
Department of Defense;
Department of Education;
Department of Energy;
Department of Health and Human Services (Co-chair);
Department of Homeland Security;
Department of Justice;
Department of Veterans Affairs;
Central Intelligence Agency;
Environmental Protection Agency;
National Aeronautics and Space Administration;
National Science Foundation (Co-chair); and
Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

This collaborative is significant both in its interdisciplinary nature and the precedence it stands to set in addressing broad national priorities.

Congressman Fattah is also partnering with the American Academy for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to host a series of congressional briefings educating Members of Congress and their staff about current neuroscience research. Topics presented thus far have included infant brain development and mental illness in young adults.