The Next Frontier

Meadows Institute leaders discuss brain health innovation, collaboration at the 80th United Nations General Assembly

For the third year in a row, the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute’s leadership on brain health innovation took center stage before an international audience of scientists, philanthropists, policymakers, and business leaders in New York City at the Science Summit at the 80th United Nations General Assembly. 

Hosted by the Global Brain Coalition and the European Brain Council and sponsored by the Meadows Institute and its Hackett Center for Mental Health, the high-profile event provided an opportunity for the Meadows Institute and other prominent Texas organizations to showcase the work that has made the state a leader in brain health innovation, research, and investment on both the national and international stage.

Andy Keller, president and CEO of the Meadows Institute, delivers welcoming remarks at the Science Summit at the 80th United Nations General Assembly

Andy Keller, the president and CEO of the Meadows Institute, delivered welcoming remarks at the summit and moderated a panel titled “Boomtown in Brain Health: Tapping into the Next Frontier,” which brought together trailblazing leaders who are seizing opportunities to create scalable, generational impacts in brain health. Panelists included Dr. Zia Agha, the chief medical officer of West Health; Dr. Amy Kruse, the chief investment officer of Satori Neuro; and Dr. Tarek Rajji, the chair of psychiatry at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Here are five key takeaways from the event:

1. The brain is our biggest asset.
Brain health is not a side conversation — it deeply impacts every part of our lives, from childhood development to aging populations and neurogenerative disease. “The brain is our biggest asset,” said Agha. David Gow, president and CEO of The Center for Houston’s Future, agreed. “There is no work right now that is more necessary for the world than brain health.”

2. Texas is leading the way on brain health.
With visionary state leadership and a “catalytic” investment in the billions, Texas has become an epicenter of innovation in brain health, said Keller. He pointed to the Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (DPRIT), a bold vision for treating, and ultimately curing, dementia and the neurological disorders it encompasses. Passed by the Texas Legislature in 2025 as a constitutional amendment to be ratified this November, DPRIT would provide a once-in-a-generation 10-year, $3 billion total investment in brain research, prevention strategies, and economic growth across the state. “I can’t emphasize enough the incendiary impact of an investment like that,” said Kruse. “Putting that much capital toward the brain and brain health is a signal to the market that can’t be underestimated. The leadership there is really something that the rest of the market will pay attention to.” 

3. Opportunities abound, even in uncertain times.
Even in this period of tremendous change and uncertainty, there are successes to celebrate and “catalytic opportunities” to seize, said Keller. As examples, he pointed to the recent drop in youth suicide rates and the Trump administration’s interest in advancing behavioral health interoperability, as well as its embrace of digital health and AI as solutions to prioritize quality and access across health systems. “The thing I am most excited about is being able to blow through the barriers that keep data in one part of the health system and do not share it with other parts of the health system — to get that data and actually make them available to the individual patient who is receiving health care services,” said Keller. 

(L-R) Andy Keller; Dr. Amy Kruse, the chief investment officer of Satori Neuro; Dr. Zia Agha, the chief medical officer of West Health; and Dr. Tarek Rajji, the chair of psychiatry at UT Southwestern Medical Center 

4. Primary care integration is the key to prevention and early intervention.
“If I could sprinkle fairy dust over every primary care system, let’s have them screen for cognitive decline, screen for mental health and substance use disorders and other brain disorders,” wished Keller. By taking early disease detection to primary care, he explained, “we’ve bent the curve” on other illnesses such as heart disease and cancer over the past three decades. Behavioral health could be transformed by a similar approach. Rajji agreed. “Advancing brain health in primary care settings is the way to go.” But, he added, primary care and specialty care providers need to maintain a “purposeful connection,” so that PCPs “don’t feel they are alone.”  

5. Collaboration is essential.
Investment in brain health yields positive dividends for all of society and reduces the cost of social services, Dr. Devdutta Sangvai, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, said in his keynote address. However, he stressed, government cannot succeed alone. Citing ongoing behavioral health access problems in North Carolina stemming from workforce shortages, he said, “we need public and private partnerships to solve these challenges. We need to find new ways to solve old problems.”  

Uniting diverse stakeholders is key, agreed Agha. “I don’t think we can fully utilize the tremendous innovations that are going to come from medicine if we don’t have these other stakeholders preparing and modeling,” he said. “The opportunity is to bring these top figures together to work together. The brain transcends every industry.”