In neurological advocacy it has often been forgotten that we share interests with related specialties and basic science, as well as with patient organizations and industry. We are all working with the same organ, the brain, and its extensions in the spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system. When it comes to influencing at the highest level the European Union or the National Institutes of Health, it is important that all players work together to promote brain research and brain health. That was the aim of the European Brain Council, which successfully united everybody in Europe and managed to greatly improve the attention to brain research and brain diseases at the European level. While cancer and heart diseases have always worked closely together as major players, this was the first time that concerted action on behalf of the brain and its disorders took place and it was highly successful.
Introduction to the 2016 Consensus Document on European Brain Research