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Message BRAIN HEALTH STARTS WITH YOUBrain disease is taking a toll on humanity. Top scientists are poised to solve the puzzle of brain disease. They can’t do it without you.NEUROINFLAMMATION INITIATIVE

Our brains make us human.According to the World Health Organization, at least 3 billion people worldwide are living with a neurological condition:“Over 1 in 3 people are affected by neurological conditions, the leading cause of illness and disability worldwide.”This means you or someone close to you. The costs we pay are unimaginable.

1THE ABF WAS FOUNDED IN 1992 by the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). Today, we are independent, but our roots keep us connected to the AAN and its 40,000 member neurologists and neuroscience professionals — the world’s largest brain trust of neurologists. The ABF Research Advisory Council, composed of neurologists and neuroscientists, recently pinpointed inammation of the brain as the “missing link” we’ve been looking for. The best scientists in the country are saying, “This is where we should push.We need funding.”“More and more people are living longer lives — and more and more people are developing brain diseases. The stakes are high. The opportunity is even greater.” DR. STEPHEN HAUSER Director of the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences and Chair of the American Brain Foundation (ABF) Neuroinammation Initiative

2And yet, researchers understand very little about how this common immune response contributes to the development of brain diseases and other neurologic disorders. Evidence points to NI impacting: Alzheimer’s, Lewy body dementia, MS, Parkinson’s, ALS, stroke, epilepsy, seizures, Long Covid, Tourette syndrome, migraines, brain tumors, Bell’s palsy, meningitis, encephalitis, aneurysms, concussions and brain trauma (TBI), sleep health, cognitive aging, neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADD/ADHD and autism spectrum disorders, stress, and mental wellness.There can be no cures without research.The problem is clear. We must focus our research efforts on neuroinammation. Also clear is the solution: YOU. You understand and care. Your generosity is visionary. Your leadership is crucial. Your impact will be immeasurable.There are over 600 known brain diseases. Neuroinammation (NI) plays a role in nearly all of them. “The human brain is the most complex biological organism in the universe. Brain disease and health are the most complex of anything in medicine. To unravel it all, we need to understand the mechanisms causing disease.”DR. THABELE LESLIE-MAZWI Chair of the Department of Neurology at the University of Washington and ABF board member

3ONE BRAIN, MANY DISEASESCURE ONE, CURE MANYYou are unique.Your brain is unique.We aim to protect what makes you you, your whole life long.The American Brain Foundation is unique as well. Our purpose is: “Cure One, Cure Many” If we cure one brain disease, we’ll be able to cure many other brain diseases. Sounds wonderful, don’t you think?“People accept the constant cognitive decline. They say, ‘I’m not the way I was at 20.’ They cite ‘senior moments.’ But it doesn’t have to be this way. In the future, a person’s cognitive performance at age 80 will be just as good or better than at age 20.” DR. DAVID DODICK Professor Emeritus at Mayo Clinic, Chief Science Ofcer and Chair for Atria Academy of Science and Medicine, and ABF board member

When researchers focus on just one brain disease, this can be good . . . and yet there can also be a “danger” of zooming in too far. It’s like standing too close to a painting. At some point, you must step back and view the whole canvas at once. Otherwise, you will never understand what you’re looking at. To see the whole picture of brain disease,we need to work together.When researchers only talk to their peers,they’re like a football team with 11 Tom Bradys.Amazing . . . but incomplete. We need “team science” in medicine. Different disciplines. Different perspectives. This is how we see the big picture. This is how we piece together the puzzle. 4To understand how brain diseases interconnect, we must see the big picture.

5It’s why we at ABF are building a team of scientists to work on neuroinammation, to address the root problem, the systemic problem, the whole spectrum of brain disease. Not just one disease. Not just the symptoms. Most neurology organizations are disease-specic. Their siloing of research results has slowed the development of cures. (We could be so much further along by now.)What we need is momentum. By sharing brain research, we’ll quickly accelerate progress by “stacking wins.”ABF’s board and research advisory committee feature the country’sleading neurologists. They are some of the most brilliant people you will ever meet. Their enthusiasm and dedication are astounding.When our scientists identify research priorities, they work together to “separate the wheat from the chaff.” They know: research that is well-vetted is likely to succeed.To combat the brain diseases plaguing us, we must adopt a whole-brain approach.

6Can there be any greater good than the promise of brain health for all people?Can you imagine a day when mental wellness and brain health are the norm? Can you imagine the implications for global peace, stability, prosperity, and happiness?Please, imagine it. Please, see it clearly. True progress starts here. We stand tall. We look to the future. We see the bright horizons we need and deserve. Then we get moving. We make it happen.People are social beings, and relationships make the world go round.Humanity’s Greatest Hits is lled with times where we unite for a common good.

7EARLY CAREER GRANTS TO GROUNDBREAKING DISCOVERIES THE ABF IMPACTABF has a rich history of helping researchers, especially with:OUR RESULTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.Funding Innovation starts with proper funding. New horizons of health require new paths of research. We invest accordingly. For early-career researchers, we are often their rst source of research funding. We’ve granted nearly $42 million over the past 30 years, and we’ve funded nearly 300 researchers in at least 45 different disease areas.MomentumWe jumpstart early career researchers. Our alumni quickly gain momentum after we award them their all-important rst funding — often the most difcult funding to obtain. 98% of the researchers we fund go on to win big funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and others. In other words, ABF is highly skilled at funding researchers who have promise. They’ve established themselves as some of the most eminent researchers in the country. Publications, Citations, and PatentsOur alumni have published nearly 30,000 papers and other publications, which together have been cited almost 1 million times. These are foundational building blocks by which future scientists will be able to “stand on the shoulders of giants.” Over 600 patent applications cite research published by our alumni researchers. Next Generation Research Grants. . . for early career researchers (to kickstart innovation)Cure One, Cure Many Awards. . . for established researchers (to ll key gaps in knowledge)

8 THE BRAIN HEALTH REVOLUTION IS HEREWe live in a transformational time. We have the golden opportunity to make good on the promise of accelerating returns in medical research and technology. Key players made history ushering in the Industrial Revolution. . . . . . the Computer Revolution . . . the Internet Revolution. “More and more people are living longer lives — and more and more people are developing brain diseases. The stakes are high. The opportunity is even greater.” DR. THABELE LESLIE-MAZWI 3 billion people are affected by neurological conditions. The time to act is now.This is our chance to do the same for the Brain Health Revolution.

9Inammation is the immune system’s natural response to injury, illness, or infection.Neuroinammation harms brains of all ages, from infancy through end of life. Prolonged or excessive inammation is a key driver in the onset and progression of 600+ brain diseases. This brings tremendous suffering and hardship for 60% of the US population and at least 3 billion people worldwide. Brain disease attacks the essence of what makes us human: thought, speech, emotion, and movement.The status quo is an affront to humanity. We should not accept brain diseases as a fact of life. We must ght back with science.Neuroinammation: The Common Denominator for 600+ Brain Diseases?“Inammation causes joints, muscles, the heart, and the brain to age. When the system goes awry or becomes too active, normal brain tissue becomes an innocent bystander. Think of it as ‘inamm-aging’ — aging caused by inammation. The connections in your brain get broken. At rst you may not notice, but eventually you do.” DR. DAVID DODICK Neuroinammation research is the way forward.

10A high-level approach that can lift our gaze and inspire collaboration.We must work together and focus on the common denominator for most brain diseases: Neuroinammation.Brain disease may well represent humanity’s most confounding puzzle. A puzzle can only be solved when you have all the pieces. Neuro-inammation research is our best bet for nding all the pieces we’ll need to solve the puzzle of brain disease.Or, think of it this way: It’s as though we’re embroiled in a war, a series of battles that manifest in the brain in different ways in different people. Just as generals need reconnaissance for maps that provide an overhead view of the battleeld, our leading minds in medicine need an overview of the interconnected “battleeld of the brain.”We can “win the war” — we can solve the puzzle of brain disease — by rst cracking the riddle of neuroinammation.

11Can we cure Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, MS (and more!) and boost mental health . . . all at once?Today, we are on track to begin awarding funding so that qualied multidisciplinary teams can dive into their neuroinammation research projects in 2025.What’s next: Phase 2, the culmination of the crucial groundwork we’ve laid. It’s time to build on this foundation a future that puts brain disease in the past.We’re halfway there . . . to amazing new discoveries. And they will be amazingly cheap. People don’t realize how affordable foundational research can be once you’re “going in the right direction.”The answer, we are convinced, is yes, absolutely.It’s why we recently launched the American Brain Foundation Neuroinammation Initiative.Announced in October of 2023, Phase 1 of this initiative has already:raised nearly $5.5M towards our $10M researchaward budgetdeveloped principles of collaboration, evaluation, and eligibilitysecured a commitment from the American Academy of Neurology to provide administrative support throughout the RFP development and grant review processand established a new Cure One, Cure Many Award for Neuroinammation.Top neurologists agree: neuroinammation is the right direction.The Neuro-inammation Initiative only needs to raise another $5 million to fund the research that has the potential to begin sweeping the brain diseases that have plagued humanity into the dustbin of history. It will only happen because of forward-thinking people like you.

12From Cane to High Heels: A Glimpse into Our Big Bright Future“We’re really on the verge of incredible things. I’ve never been more optimistic about the future.” DR. STEPHEN HAUSERAs director of the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences and chair of the Neuroinammation Initiative, Dr. Hauser often thinks about people like Justine Fedak. She inspires him to keep pressing on in his work, day after day, in order to make research breakthroughs that change lives and create a buttery effect of benets for individuals, families, and communities.When he rst met Justine, Dr. Hauser watched her approach slowly, painstakingly, leaning on a cane as she walked. That would soon change because of the B-cell therapy Dr. Hauser developed — the rst therapy to be approved for progressive multiple sclerosis. More than 200,000 patients around the world have been treated.Justine is one of them. Today, because of Dr. Hauser’s innovative research, Justine is living her best life. It was not long ago she felt hope slipping away. But those days are over. Justine was thrilled to trade her cane for high heels . . . and now she is walking tall. We know we’re on to something — what else is possible?Justine represents the kind of “incredible thing” Dr. Hauser notes we are on the verge of. We get incredible impact when we direct funding where it’s needed most. Right now, that is neuroinammation research, which points to new realms of incredible impact just waiting to be tapped. Funding neuroinammation research promises to help countless people like Justine — people who are urgently waiting for their own breakthroughs.

The world awaits a breakthrough. Will you answer the call? 13Why You Are the Catalyst of Brain HealthOur team of world-class experts is keeping their keen eyes xed on the near horizon. What they see in the ofng is clear and wonderful and coming quickly:A profound understanding of how and when inammation occurs in the brain and the spinal cord will aid in preventing, detecting, treating, and even curing a broad spectrum of brain diseases.We have the researchers; we must not leave them unequipped to do their vital work. We must not lose momentum. Far too much is at stake, for all of us. The time is now.The problem is brain inammation. The solution is anti- inammatory science. The promise is unlimited . . . with your support.Will you join us in this critical mission? We cannot do it without you.Together we can Cure One . . . then Cure Many!

MICHELLE HERITAGE Executive Director(612) 928-6317 MHeritage@AmericanBrainFoundation.orgAmerican Brain Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 41-1717098). All gifts are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.YOU ARE THE BRAIN HEALTH REVOLUTIONFor more information and to make a gift, please contact:201 Chicago Avenue | Minneapolis, MN 55415 | AmericanBrainFoundation.org