A partnership between the Brain Research Centre, UBC Faculty of Medicine, and Vancouver Coastal Health, the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health will integrate neuroscience, geriatric medicine, rehabilitation, mental health, and addiction initiatives, spanning neurodevelopment to neurodegeneration, with interdisciplinary and translational research in a way that has never been done before. This integrated approach will mark the beginning of a new era of patient care and scientific discovery that will help establish British Columbia as a world leader in brain health, inspiring new treatments today and hope for tomorrow. Patients from across the province and around the globe will benefit from this powerful synergy. 

 

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    • The partners in the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health initiative are the UBC Faculty of Medicine and Vancouver Coastal Health, and their world class research program, the Brain Research Centre.

      The Brain Research Centre comprises more than 225 investigators with multidisciplinary expertise in neuroscience research ranging from the test tube, to the bedside, to industrial spin-offs.

      The UBC Faculty of Medicine provides innovative programs in the health and life sciences, teaching students at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels, and generates more than $200 million in research funding each year.

      Vancouver Coastal Health provides a full range of health care services, ranging from hospital treatment to community-based residential, home health, mental health and public health services, to residents of Vancouver, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Richmond, and in the coastal mountain communities.

    •  Doctor and a patient

      The Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health will improve patient care, spearhead new treatments, and advance research for people living with debilitating brain diseases and disorders.

      The Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health unites research and patient care in the areas of neuroscience, mental health, and addiction medicine. This "whole brain" approach is unique. It encompasses both a new, customized facility and a new philosophy. Traditionally, neuroscience and psychiatric disorders have been treated separately, with clinicians and researchers often having little interaction. By bringing the disciplines together and integrating patient care with research, we are creating new opportunities to collaborate and share in research and discovery, and are in a unique position to quickly translate new discoveries into the best possible patient treatment. 

    •  MRI DTI images

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    • By 2020, brain diseases and disorders will overtake heart disease and cancer as the leading cause of death and disability in Canada.
    • Diseases of the brain affect one in seven Canadians, from early childhood through to old age.
    • Five forms of mental illness, including depression, tobacco addiction, and alcohol addiction, are included in the top 10 leading causes of disability.
    • Although in recent years there has been an explosion in knowledge about the brain, the key challenge facing doctors and scientists today is to translate scientific insight into real, tangible gains for patients and for society.
    • Our doctors and researchers are already leaders in the fields of neurology and psychiatry. Bringing them all together under one roof will only serve to further strengthen this expertise by fostering an environment of true collaboration and information sharing.
    •  Senior man in physical therapy
    • This facility will enable a new era of patient care and scientific discovery. This physically-connected approach will facilitate collaboration amongst teams of scientists and clinicians with wide-ranging expertise. The increased ease and opportunity for collaboration and information sharing will allow for more research and more clinical trials, leading to a more efficient pipeline from discovery through to treatment. The end result will provide efficient and effective health care that will yield an improved quality of life for patients and their families.
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    • We anticipate the facility being open in 2013.
    • The Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health will be built adjacent to Koerner Pavilion of UBC Hospital along Wesbrook Mall in the space currently occupied by the hospital parking lot. The current parking lot will be replaced by additional parking spaces nearby the other hospital pavilions.
    • StanTec/Ashen+Allen are the architecture companies that won the competitive bid to build the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health.
    • CBH location

BRAIN HEALTH & FACILITY NEWS

 

Groundbreaking for Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health celebrated [read more]

 

Researchers' discovery may revolutionize treatment of ALS [read more]  

 

 
A genetic abnormality is believed to cause both frontotemporal dementia and ALS [read more]



Newly discovered spinal stem cell may help regenerate central nervous system damage in disease and trauma [read more]    

 

 


Djavad Mowafaghian Foundation donates $15 million to Centre for Brain Health [read more]