Preserving Brain Health

Imagine a future where our brains last as long as our bodies. That’s the goal of the Simpson Querrey Brain Health Institute (SQ-Brain), a new initiative made possible by the philanthropy of longtime Northwestern benefactor and University Trustee Kimberly K. Querrey. 

SQ-Brain envisions a future where brain health can be continuously monitored, measured and modified across a person’s lifespan. It also strives to prevent cognitive decline and brain injury through neurovascular biology and precision medicine. 

The institute brings together physicians, scientists and engineers at the intersection of their fields to facilitate cross-boundary discoveries that address fundamental questions hindering brain health research. It will integrate research with clinical care to generate actionable discoveries and accelerate early detection of diseases and disorders. Community partnerships will help expand prevention. 

“Kimberly’s wonderful gift to establish SQ-Brain ensures that Northwestern’s urgent work to advance our understanding of brain health and improve the lives of patients can move forward rapidly,” says Dr. Eric G. Neilson, vice president for medical affairs and the Lewis Landsberg Dean at the Feinberg School of Medicine. 

According to the World Health Organization, by 2030, brain-related disorders will drive half of the global economic burden of disability. SQ-Brain will build on recent advances in neurovascular science to address this burden. It also will accelerate progress in Alzheimer’s disease prevention. Finally, the institute will evaluate the brain-health implications of the rapidly expanding use of GLP-1 medications.  

SQ-Brain is led by founding director Dr. Farzaneh A. Sorond, vice dean for faculty affairs at Feinberg and the Dean Richard H. Young and Ellen Stearns Young Professor of Neurology in the Ken and Ruth Davee Department of Neurology. 

“Preserving brain health across the lifespan may be one of the defining health priorities of the 21st century,” says Dr. Sorond, a physician-scientist with training in vascular neurology and neurocritical care who is also starting a brain health clinical program at Northwestern Medical Group. “Lifespans are rising — brain health must keep pace. SQ-Brain will achieve its vision through a convergence of scientific thought, fostering collisions of perspectives, questioning entrenched assumptions and embracing experimentation at the boundaries of disciplines.” 

SQ-Brain builds on Northwestern’s strengths in neurological science. 

“The Simpson Querrey Brain Health Institute represents the kind of bold, interdisciplinary effort that is needed to address one of the greatest challenges in medicine,” Querrey says. “This is an investment in longer, healthier lives — and in a future where more people can age with their independence and dignity intact.”