About Us
As the United States faces an aging population, with more than 61 million Americans already over age 65, the Simpson Querrey Brain Health Institute (SQ-Brain) envisions a world where our brains outlast our bodies — a world where brain health is continuously measurable, modifiable and monitorable across the lifespan, and where prevention of cognitive decline and brain injury is anchored in neurovascular biology and precision medicine.
But brain health is complex and highly variable; to achieve sooner, smarter care for everyone, there is a need to integrate clinical and research data to understand mechanisms, identify drug targets and, importantly, develop preventive strategies.
SQ-Brain will build on health advances achieved in the past decade, including:
- Actionable evidence resulting from clinical trials that link tighter blood pressure control to lower risk of cognitive impairment
- The 2024 Lancet Commission statement, attributing roughly 45 percent of dementia risk to 14 modifiable factors, half of which are vascular in origin and many which can be modified
- New therapeutic advances in Alzheimer's disease which enable earlier disease detection but also require monitoring of vascular complications
- Implications for brain health amid the rising use of GLP-1 antagonists
Preserving brain health across the lifespan may be the most important health priority of the 21st century; people are living longer than ever, and our brains should keep up."
Farzaneh Sorond, MD, PhD
Director, SQ-Brain, 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.
Take the Next Steps
Contact Us
We welcome your questions and comments.Become a Member
Anyone across the university with an interest in brain health research is invited to apply to become a member.About Our Benefactor
SQ-Brain was made possible thanks to philanthropic funding from University Trustee Kimberly K. Querrey (’22, ’23 P). The institute builds on unique strengths at Northwestern in neurological science, previously established by Querrey, including the Simpson Querrey Center for Neurovascular Sciences and the Simpson Querrey Center for Neurogenetics, as well as the Simpson Querrey Lung Institute for Translational Science, the Simpson Querrey Institute for Epigenetics and the Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics.