SAN FRANCISCO — Posit Science, the maker of BrainHQ brain exercises and assessments, announced the establishment of Centers of Excellence at three leading medical centers – McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Northwestern Medicine at Northwestern University and the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami.
“The Cognitive Training Centers of Excellence program takes existing research collaboration partnerships a giant step further in our mission to get scientific and medical breakthroughs out of the lab and into the hands of people who could be helped,” said Dr. Henry Mahncke, the CEO of Posit Science.
Posit Science works with a global network of more than 400 university-based researchers to design, test, refine, and validate computerized brain exercises and assessments. That collaboration has resulted in more than 150 peer-reviewed journal articles on the benefits of its technology.
“This program is a new and intensive focus on the last step in the transition of new science from bench to bedside,” Dr. Mahncke added. “We are honored to be working with leading healthcare institutions in developing and spreading best practices for using these new life-changing technologies. A global team of researchers have shown the benefits exist; now, we are working on how these benefits can be delivered to people in real-world settings.”
The program seeks to recognize expertise, share learning, compile best practices, and increase overall understanding of the impact of scientifically-validated cognitive training across numerous therapeutic areas.
“Our clinical trials showed that these exercises can deliver meaningful improvements in cognitive health,” said Dr. Eve Lewandowski, who has run trials using BrainHQ in bipolar populations at Harvard/McLean Hospital. “Now, with our Center of Excellence and implementation programs in several clinical services, we are moving beyond randomized controlled trials in scientific settings to identify how cognitive training can be used in health care settings.”
Recent studies have shown that BrainHQ exercises are effective at improving cognitive function and real-world performance in healthy older adults, and show promise across a wide range of clinical populations and symptoms, including brain injuries (e.g., traumatic brain injury, stroke, chemobrain, cardiobrain, tinnitus), mental illness (e.g., depression, anxiety/stress, schizophrenia, bipolar, ADD/ADHD) and neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., mild cognitive impairment, dementia, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis).
“We’ve offered an integrated mental health care program for people with recent onset psychosis for several years now,” said Dr. Morris Goldman of Northwestern Medicine. “We are excited to add BrainHQ to our service offering and extend our commitment to bringing scientific advances into treatment.”
“Our research on this technology in older adults and in people with mental health issues led directly to our decision to look at how to make best use of it with people who want to improve their brain health but who are not enrolled in clinical trials,” said Dr. Phil Harvey of the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami. “Our Brain Health Pavilion offers exactly that – a convenient and effective way for members of our community to explore the cutting-edge science of cognitive training.”
Posit Science has now launched the Cognitive Training Center of Excellence program and expects to add additional centers in the months ahead.