One Article.
One National
Organization.
Brain-CE was not planned — it was called into existence by a gap so obvious, and so consequential, that once it was named in public, hundreds of people were ready to fill it together.
The Moment That Started Everything
In early 2025, Muse Laroyia was a neuroscience graduate student at the University of Calgary, working on the Clinical Neurosciences EDI committee. In that role, she kept noticing the same thing: a disproportionate surge in neurological patient intake every time a climate event hit — wildfire smoke, extreme heat, flooding. Stroke admissions climbed. Dementia patients decompensated. Mental health presentations multiplied. And the patients bearing the greatest burden were consistently from equity-denied communities.
She also noticed what wasn’t there: no national strategy. No research program. No clinical guidance. No public conversation. Across the hospital, the clinics, and the academic literature, the intersection of climate change, brain health, and equity was a gap so enormous it was practically invisible precisely because it had never been named.
At the same institution, Dr. Bhavini Makwana — a physician and clinical associate professor — had been arriving at the same conclusion through her work on sustainability in healthcare. They connected. They recognized the gap was not just clinical but structural: Canada had no organization doing what needed to be done.
Muse wrote about it. She published an op-ed in The Conversation Canada making the case that wildfire smoke is a direct neurological threat, not just a respiratory one, and that equity-denied communities are bearing a neurological burden that Canada’s health systems are not equipped to see, let alone address.
The response was immediate and extraordinary. The article was republished in over 17 outlets, including the Weather Network and The Tyee. Researchers, clinicians, policymakers, students, and community advocates from across Canada reached out. They had all been quietly noticing the same gap — and had found no one leading the response.
Brain-CE was founded to be that response.
“Wildfire Smoke is Affecting Your Brain, Not Just Your Lungs”
United Kingdom
NHS adaptation plans explicitly reference neurological vulnerability groups. Lancet Countdown tracks climate-neurological health impacts.
Australia
National heat alert systems address neurological risk groups. Research funding links bushfire smoke to cognitive outcomes.
Canada in 2025
No national framework. No clinical guidance. No surveillance system. Brain-CE is the first dedicated initiative filling this void.
The Founding Principle
Brain-CE was founded on a single conviction: the neurological healthcare response to climate change must shift from treatment to prevention. Waiting to treat stroke, dementia, and climate anxiety after climate events have already caused harm is both clinically inadequate and structurally unjust — especially when the communities bearing the greatest burden have the least access to care. Brain-CE exists to build the evidence, advocacy, and innovation that make prevention the default.
Co-Founded by Two People Who Saw the Same Gap
Brain-CE was co-founded by Muse Laroyia and Dr. Bhavini Makwana — a neuroscience graduate student and a physician at the same institution who had independently arrived at the same conclusion. Their collaboration transformed a shared observation into a national organization.
Muse Laroyia
A neuroscience graduate researcher focused on memory and dementia. Brain-CE grew directly out of Muse’s work on the Clinical Neurosciences EDI committee, where she documented the disproportionate neurological impact of climate events on vulnerable populations and recognized the absence of any national strategy. The founding article was hers. The national network that responded was her answer.
Dr. Bhavini Makwana
A physician and clinical associate professor whose work on sustainability in healthcare had led her to the same conclusion Muse had reached from the research side. When they connected, the shared vision crystallized immediately: Canada needed a dedicated organization to address climate’s neurological toll, and it needed to be led by those closest to the evidence and the communities being harmed.
Brain-CE: A Timeline
The Gap is Identified
Muse Laroyia, on the UCalgary Clinical Neurosciences EDI committee, documents a pattern: climate events correlate with disproportionate neurological patient intake, and equity-denied communities bear the greatest burden. Dr. Bhavini Makwana, working in parallel on healthcare sustainability, arrives at the same conclusion. They connect and recognize the absence of any national response.
The Founding Article — 17+ Outlets
Muse publishes “Wildfire Smoke is Affecting Your Brain, Not Just Your Lungs” in The Conversation Canada. The article makes the case that air pollution is a direct neurological threat — not just a respiratory one — and that equity-denied communities are bearing a burden Canada’s systems cannot see. Republished in 17+ outlets, including the Weather Network and The Tyee. The national response exceeds all expectations.
Brain-CE Founded & Incorporated
Brain Climate Equity Collaborative is federally incorporated as a Canadian non-profit corporation. The founding board assembles: neurologists, physicians, a trauma therapist and social innovator, a knowledge translation specialist, an eco-neuroscientist, and more. The four-pillar framework — Generate Evidence, Raise Awareness, Drive Systemic Change, Foster Innovation — is established as the organizational operating model.
Official Launch & 40+ Fellows
Brain-CE launches at Hunter Hub, University of Calgary in a hybrid public event. Within months, 40+ fellows join from universities across Canada and internationally, organizing into 14 active projects spanning research, knowledge translation, policy, and innovation. The organizational model — youth-led, expert-supported — is fully operational.
First Federal Policy Submission
Brain-CE submits a formal technical submission to Environment and Climate Change Canada on the Draft 2026-2029 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy — proposing four neurological health Key Risk Indicators as sentinel intelligence for Canada’s national resilience framework. Co-led by fellow Sabrina Guerrier in partnership with The ENRICH Project and Dr. Ingrid Waldron at McMaster.
Publications, Conferences & International Engagement
CMAJ analysis article on wildfire smoke and neurological health equity moves toward submission. Brain-CE presents at PEACH Health Conference (May) and Calgary Climate Week (June). Community-based research launches across three populations. COP31 strategy and WHO ATACH engagement in development.
Canada’s National Response — Built by Brain-CE
The long game: Brain-CE’s research outputs become the foundation for Canada’s first national strategy on climate and neurological health. Community-led evidence from equity-denied populations shapes federal sustainability governance. Brain-CE fellows become the next generation of Canadian experts, advocates, and leaders in this emerging field.
This Story Is Still Being Written
Brain-CE is less than a year old. Every fellow who joins, every partner who collaborates, and every publication that lands adds a chapter. There is room for you in this story.