Richard Mille’s Donors’ Club is created to support Paris Brain Institute
Bringing help and hope, Richard Mille augments its continuing support to Paris Brain Institute with the creation of the Richard Mille’s Donors’ Club.
Having encountered Parkinson’s disease through a parent who was diagnosed with the early onset of the neurodegenerative condition, it is greatly encouraging to know that the Richard Mille brand has been actively supporting the work of Paris Brain Institute—located in the heart of the Pitié- Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris—since 2012.
Ranging from severe migraines and depression, stroke and psychiatric disorders, brain pathologies also encompass incurable and debilitating conditions including epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease, whose progressive degeneration leads to serious and life-limiting problems with movement and/or mental functioning.
According to studies, only 20% have access to appropriate treatment among the nearly one billion people worldwide stricken with brain disease. Despite the high number that is set to escalate with population ageing, the brain is still largely unknown and the development of new treatments is a real challenge.
“In terms of how well we understand the human brain, we are still in the Middle Ages,” says Professor Gérard Saillant, President of Paris Brain Institute. “The Institute’s objective is to respond to a major challenge for the health of humanity: understanding and treating the brain. Thanks to technological advances, artificial intelligence, big data and the acceleration of progress in nanotechnology, we are witnessing exponential progress in our understanding of how our brains works. We need to step up our efforts, develop new skills and innovate, time and time again, in our research models.”
As such, donor support is essential to move forward and accelerate innovation. Ranked second among the 35 international institutions active in the field of neurological research, Paris Brain Institute fosters connections among patients, researchers, physicians and entrepreneurs with the aim of understanding the brain and developing new treatments.
It is the first innovation accelerator dedicated to disorders and health of the nervous system in France. Not having just supported the Paris Brain Institute for a decade through corporate philanthropy as one of the pillars of the watch brand that also include R & D, extreme watchmaking techniques and sports, founder Richard Mille made a personal commitment to the establishment in 2019, when he became a member of the Institute’s Campaign Committee.
This year’s creation of the Richard Mille Donors’ Club will help to further push the boundaries of research in brain disease—in a close parallel to the watch brand’s own successful endeavour in constant research and new developments.
“I was approached by my friend Jean Todt, who played a crucial part in the founding of the Paris Brain Institute, while Gérard Saillant, the Institute’s president, convinced me of the need to support this cause, to play a part in it by supporting the institution in a lasting and reliable manner to ensure the means to make long-term projections and greater visibility,” explains Mille.
A cornerstone that has also contributed to the success of the Richard Mille brand is courtesy of its notable list of close friendships and partnerships forged over years, enriched by a spirit in partnering and supporting a worthy cause it believes in.
The Paris Brain Institute sits among the patronage of Richard Mille, alongside the various personal charities of brand partners such as The Rafael Nadal Foundation and YB Afraid, in addition to the Only Watch charity auction and others. Supporting Paris Brain Institute epitomises an opportunity to fund life-saving and life-enhancing research as the brand’s way of giving back to society that translates to assisting over 700 researchers who are committed to improving the daily lives of one billion people and inventing treatments that could, tomorrow, change their everyday lives.
“Just a few years ago, the Institute had to campaign to recruit scientists. Today, it receives unsolicited applications from top researchers seeking to come and work there. In my view, it is our responsibility to support this success and level of performance by helping the Institute function optimally. Supporting a structure as advanced and promising as the ICM (Institut du Cerveau) is a noble cause. Lending our support to this research helps saves lives and improve many existences,” says Mille.
The amazing nature of the brain— without which the essential human acts of thinking, learning, dreaming, movement, et cetera would not be possible—has only started to receive the utmost attention it deserves in scientific and medical R & D, and we are assured that this turn for the better will bring much hope to the afflicted and their loved ones.
