1025 Bridging the Gap: Mission:BRAIN Foundation's Global Efforts to Enhance Neuroscientific Education Opportunities and Global Healthcare Equity

INTRODUCTION: Neurosurgical training disparities and limited medical access create an enormous gap between low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and high-income ones. Annually, ∼5.2 million individuals with treatable neurosurgical conditions remain untreated, highlighting a calculated shortfall of 23,000 neurosurgeons globally. Mission:BRAIN Foundation, a non-profit organization, seeks to diminish these barriers by fostering neuroscientific knowledge and empowering healthcare providers worldwide to diminish this gap. Established in 2021, the foundation's chapter program aims to empower a network of values-driven members to address these disparities. METHODS: Data from our chapters was collected and divided by specific regions. The variables included were total number of chapters, number of initiatives per chapter, type of initiative (academic, fundraising, research, or humanitarian), number of attendees per initiative, and in the case of humanitarian initiatives, number of patients benefited. RESULTS: Our data showed a 49.25% chapter growth within a 1-year period, increasing from 67 at the beginning of 2023 to currently 100 chapters (as of April 2024), indicating successful empowerment initiatives worldwide that lead to a greater impact. In 2023, our chapters organized 119 initiatives encompassing academic, research, fundraising, and humanitarian efforts, benefitting a total of 6,743 healthcare providers (including doctors, nurses, medical students, and more) directly. Our four main humanitarian initiatives provided medical attention to 2,178 patients in LMICs (Mexico, Uganda, and India). CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the success of the Mission:BRAIN's chapter model implementing multiple interventions and programs, improving education, research, and community services to impact patients’ lives. These resource-bridging and empowerment initiatives in Global Neurosurgery, advance neuroscience in LMICs in a cost-effective and sustainable manner. This data collection marks a milestone after 14 years of work, with a focus on further improving this prospectively.