Mission & Vision
Our Mission
Wake Forest University advances neuroscience that serves humanity. Guided by our motto, Pro Humanitate—for humanity—we pursue discovery that deepens understanding of the brain and mind while improving health, equity, and well-being across communities and populations. In partnership with Advocate Health, and through the strengths of our university-wide, interdisciplinary scholarship, we translate scientific insight into compassionate care, improved outcomes, and meaningful impact for patients and communities.
Our work is grounded in the belief that neuroscience is essential to addressing the challenges of our time, including:
- The foundational role of the brain and mind in shaping every dimension of modern life,
- The growing global impact of neurological, neuropsychiatric, and neurodegenerative conditions, and
- The powerful influence of an increasingly interconnected society and emerging technologies on brain function and brain health.
At Wake Forest, neuroscience and society is more than a field of study—it is a commitment to improving lives. Our mission anchors that commitment; our vision charts the path forward.
Our Vision
With brain-based diseases, including neurodegenerative disease and addiction, increasing at an exponential rate, rapid advancements in technologies like social media and artificial intelligence that impact our sense of self, our social interactions, and our mental health, and societal and environmental concerns that may alter quality of life, the time is now for a new approach to neuroscience. At Wake Forest University, we believe that understanding the brain requires more than advancing neuroscience alone. When cutting-edge brain science is brought into conversation with the arts and humanities, social science, ethics, law, and lived experience, we gain a fuller picture of how the mind works, how behavior and meaning are shaped, and how well-being is created.
Wake Forest embraces a holistic approach to neuroscience & society—one that connects scientific insight with ethical reflection, community partnership, and a deep appreciation for the human experience.
Our neuroscience and society initiative explores who we are and how we relate to one another, is guided by equity, creativity, dignity, and justice, partners with communities in inquiry, and strengthens our ability to meet the challenges of our time with wisdom and empathy.
This vision means:
- Connecting neural mechanisms with the social, environmental, and narrative contexts that shape cognition, emotion, and identity.
- Uniting brain science with the arts, humanities, ethics, and law to illuminate the full complexity of mind, behavior, and lived experience.
- Listening first—recognizing that research and discoveries are most powerful when grounded in relationships of trust, reciprocity, and cultural understanding.
- Embedding ethical inquiry and policy leadership into neuroscience research, technology development, and clinical practice.