From left to right, Randy Blakley, Ph.D., Executive Director of Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute; Philanthrope Frances Fisher; And Patrick J. McNamara, president and chief executive officer of the Palm Health Foundation, celebrate the Center for the Resilient Mind during an inaugural event in Palm Beach.
Center for the Resilient Spirit
At Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute (SNBI) of Florida Atlantic University. Professors and trainees affiliated to the center will study brain resilience to stress and neuro-component disorders and will explore opportunities for promoting brain brain through community engagement.
This commitment, in the form of a challenge subsidy, contributes to the launch target of $ 2.5 million in the center and was recently announced during an inaugural event at Frances and Jeffrey Fisher in Palm Beach. An additional donation of $ 50,000 by the Merrell Family Foundation initiated community support in the center.
The center will bring together neuroscientists, psychologists, clinicians, educators, social workers and artists to investigate the foundations of the resilient spirit through human life. The planned intervention areas include understanding how the brain strengthens resilience through early childhood, the dynamics of the brain modulated by artistic engagement, the factors that make the brain sensitive to learning and the biological and environmental influences that contribute to healthy cerebral aging.
The Palm Health Foundation leads to change for causes related to health in the county of Palm Beach, emphasizing the advancement of brain health by inspiring partnerships between brain scientists, community members and healthcare environments.
“What excites me most in the new center for the resilient spirit is that it will serve as a major Lynchpin, connecting innovative research in neuroscience with a current critical need for our mental health system, which is to promote and improve the resilient minds,” said Patrick McNamara, president and CEO of the Palm Health Foundation.
The center is the latest addition to the SNBI, which supports research and brain education on FAU campuses and in partnership with the main research institutes in neuroscience. During a recent event, the SNBI celebrated the launch of the Center for Research on Neurodegenerative Diseases in David and Lynn Nicholson, where neuroscientists work to understand neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, SLA, Parkinson’s disease and others to identify diagnoses and improved treatments.
“We are very happy to associate ourselves with Palm Health Foundation in this new exciting and important company to seek a better understanding of how neuroplasticities are shaping and supporting a resilient spirit,” said Randy Blakely, Ph.D., Executive Director of SNBI and Professor of Neuroscience and Biomedical Sciences of the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. “This center, the first of its kind, seeks to be a leader in the revealing factors that allow brain and mind to deal with physical, environmental and social challenges, and translate the results into practices that can improve mental health.”
The SNBI and the Palm Health Foundation also join forces to promote the vision of the brain coast, an aspiration for the south of Florida to accelerate innovation in the diagnosis, treatment and healing of brain disorders thanks to the collaboration between researchers, educators, health care providers of the brain and business leaders in the County of Palm Beach. This vision is also approved by the Stiles-Nicholson Foundation; The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation and Technology; Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience; and Southeast Florida Behavioral Health Network.
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