The human brain is the greatest scientific challenge, yet the scourge of brain disorders urgently demands progress. Fortunately, building on recent advances in neuroscience and many other disciplines, new ideas, tools, and modes of organization promise significant movement forward.

Steven E. Hyman served as Provost of Harvard University from 2001 through 2011 and also serves as Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. He is a leading scholar at the intersection of molecular neuroscience, molecular biology, and psychiatry. Dr. Hyman also served as Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) from 1996 to 2001. Hyman's tenure there was marked by intensified efforts to bring molecular biolgy, genetics, neuroscience, and behavioral science all to bear, in integrated ways, on the understanding of mental illness and mental health.