A brain is a terrible thing to waste....

Most people haven't noticed that this country is suffering from a severe brain shortage. "Sure, I've noticed," you may chuckle, pointing a finger at Washington or the local government of your choice. But that's not the kind of brain shortage we're talking about. We mean gray matter, white matter, brain tissue -- the stuff in your head that neuroscientists need to investigate a variety of diseases, disorders, and dilemmas.

During the Eighties, investigators learned more about the central nervous system than in all prior human history. The Nineties promised to be even more enlightening. "The brain is the last biological frontier," says neuroscientist Deborah Mash, director of the University of Miami Brain Endowment Bank. Founded in 1986, it's one of only three general brain banks in the nation. "We need to study the human brain postmortem--diseased brains and healthy ones for comparison."

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor became a neuroscientist precisely to study the brains of people diagnosed with severe mental illness, specifically schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. ( Dr. Taylor has a brother living with schizophrenia and you may remember her from her book, A Stroke of Insight.) She was shocked to learn that the "tissue issue" - or lack of postmortem brain tissue from the psychiatrically diagnosed - has really held back the scientific community from unraveling the mysteries of severe mental illness. Dr. Taylor has made it her mission to bring this shortage to the attention of the population at large.

Individuals who've noted on their drivers licenses that they are organ donors have willed everything but the brain, although most are not aware of that. If a person is interested in donating his or her brain to science, they will need to make specific arrangements. The Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center has created a specialized collection specifically for NAMI families, where operators are available 24/7 at 1-800-BRAINBANK. The bank collects brain specimens from parents, siblings, and children of psychiatrically diagnosed as well as those living with mental illness. So-called "normal" brains are just as much in demand as unhealthy ones.

The reality is that if the tissue was more readily available, more scientists would be studying mental illness. If someone has passed they sure don't need it anymore, but that brain tissue may help us understand, treat, and cure biological disorders of the brain. And that would be the greatest gift you could give.....