Organization for Human Brain Mapping

Organization for Human Brain Mapping
Name	Organization for Human Brain Mapping
Abbreviation	OHBM
Formation	1995
Type	Professional society
Headquarters	International
Region served	Global

Organization for Human Brain Mapping is an international professional society dedicated to the study of human brain organization using neuroimaging and neurophysiological methods. The society convenes researchers from institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Oxford, Stanford University, Harvard University, and University College London to advance methods pioneered at centers like National Institutes of Health, Max Planck Society, and University of California, Los Angeles. It fosters ties among investigators associated with projects including Human Connectome Project, Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, UK Biobank, ENIGMA Consortium, and BRAIN Initiative.

History

The organization emerged in the mid-1990s amid rapid expansion of functional neuroimaging after landmark studies at University of California, San Diego, McGill University, Johns Hopkins University, Yale University, and Columbia University. Early founders included researchers affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, University of Cambridge, McMaster University, and University of Pennsylvania, who built on methodological advances from laboratories at Bell Labs, University of Pittsburgh, and Washington University in St. Louis. Initial meetings drew participants associated with conferences such as Society for Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience Society, and International Congress of Neuroimaging.

Mission and Activities

The society promotes rigorous human brain mapping through activities that support researchers at institutions like Imperial College London, ETH Zurich, Seoul National University, Peking University, and Australian National University. Core aims include dissemination of methods developed by teams at Karolinska Institutet, University of Toronto, University of Michigan, University of Zurich, and Duke University; advocacy intersecting with funders such as Wellcome Trust, National Science Foundation, European Research Council, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and National Natural Science Foundation of China; and development of standards inspired by work at International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility, World Health Organization, and Open Science Framework.

Membership and Governance

Membership comprises investigators, clinicians, and trainees from organizations like Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, NIH Clinical Center, Institut Pasteur, and Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Governance is overseen by elected officers and committees drawing leadership with prior affiliations to Society for Cognitive Neuroscience, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, IEEE, American Academy of Neurology, and Royal Society. The election process parallels practices used by European Society of Radiology, American Chemical Society, and Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Annual Meetings and Conferences

The annual meeting attracts delegates from universities and institutes such as University of Edinburgh, University of Melbourne, National University of Singapore, Tsinghua University, and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Program highlights often feature keynote addresses by investigators from MIT, Princeton University, Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, and Oxford University Press-affiliated scholars, along with workshops led by teams from Stanford University School of Medicine, NeuroSpin, Institut du Cerveau, and UMass Medical School. Satellite symposia frequently include contributions connected to projects at Allen Institute for Brain Science, Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Awards and Recognition

The society confers awards and honors recognizing achievements comparable to distinctions from Royal Society, National Academy of Sciences, Lasker Foundation, Kavli Prize, and Brain Prize. Recipients have included investigators whose work is associated with laboratories at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Scripps Research Institute, Weizmann Institute of Science, École Normale Supérieure, and Pasteur Institute for contributions to mapping methods, reproducibility, and data sharing.

Publications and Educational Resources

The organization supports dissemination through proceedings, tutorials, and online materials used by trainees at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, University of Washington, McMaster University Faculty of Health Sciences, University of British Columbia, and Monash University. Educational content aligns with best practices from publishers and platforms such as Nature Neuroscience, NeuroImage, PLOS ONE, Frontiers in Neuroscience, and IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging and leverages standards developed by DataCite, Committee on Publication Ethics, and OpenAIRE.

Collaborations and Impact on Neuroscience

Collaborative initiatives connect the society with consortia and funders including Human Brain Project, Cancer Research UK, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Wellcome Sanger Institute, and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Impact is evident in methodological exchanges with groups at Rutgers University, Pennsylvania State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and in translational links to clinical centers such as Mount Sinai Health System, Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Toronto General Hospital. The society’s influence extends into policy discussions involving entities like UNESCO, G20 Science Ministers, and World Economic Forum.

Category:Neuroscience societies