March 17, 2008 Wired to Win an exciting film showing how the brains of two competitors in the Tour de France are working during that grueling event is the new feature of Brain Awareness Week this year. 
The film is offered to the general public for free and scheduled at 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm showings in Chem 200. In classrooms, more than 6000 fifth and sixth grade students will have an opportunity to see a real human brain up close and learn about how it helps people think, feel, taste and touch as University of Minnesota Medical School Duluth students and faculty visit classrooms in Duluth and communities throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The Medical School Duluth Campus has participated in the international initiative called “Brain Awareness Week” for ten years. By the end of 2007, over 25,000 students in more than 100 schools in 60+ towns will have participated in a Duluth Brain Awareness presentation.
Janet Fitzakerley, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Physiology and Pharmacology department at the Medical School, leads the Public Education and Communication Committee of the Society for Neuroscience, which oversees Brain Awareness Week internationally. Fitzakerley organizes the Duluth educational activities and matches the medical students and professors to local schools that have requested presentations.
“Educating kids about the brain is critical because they need to understand how important it is to protect their brain cells” commented Fitzakerley. But there’s another reason that Brain Awareness is important, she added. “Neuroscientists need to talk to the public about the critical nature of brain research. One in three Americans will experience a neurological disorder at some point in their lives, and someone suffers a stroke about every 45 seconds, for example. Research, supported by the National Institutes of Health, funded by Congress and performed here in Duluth, will help solve some of the mysteries of brain function and help us find better ways to treat nervous system diseases.”
“We have a strong commitment to community outreach and Brain Awareness Week is an excellent example of this commitment in action,” commented Gary Davis, Ph.D. and senior associate dean of the Medical School, Duluth Campus.
Launched in 1996, Brain Awareness Week has united the Society for Neuroscience with the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives and a coalition of over 1,600 science, advocacy, and health organizations that share an interest in elevating public awareness of brain and nervous system research.
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