Building the Scientific Foundation for Mental Health Parity

Mental illness arises from a dynamic interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors. Yet current systems often treat psychiatric symptoms in isolation—disconnected from their underlying drivers or long-term trajectories.

Despite growing scientific understanding, psychiatry still lacks the integrated frameworks and shared tools that are standard in other areas of medicine.

In the absence of clear diagnostic markers or shared longitudinal data, many patients are misdiagnosed, dismissed, or routed into care pathways that don’t address root causes.

Symptoms that may signal immune dysfunction, neurologic disruption, infectious triggers, or metabolic imbalance are often labeled as purely psychological—leading to delays in care, worsening outcomes, and patient distrust.

This isn’t just a care delivery issue. It’s a deeply rooted scientific gap.

We have yet to develop the data models, research infrastructure, or collaborative ecosystems necessary to treat mental health with the same depth, rigor, and precision applied to physical illness.

When scientific understanding lags, systems fill in the blanks with assumptions—often shaped by bias, outdated models, or incomplete training.

These assumptions undermine care: symptoms are moralized, diagnoses delayed, and patients dismissed or gaslit. Those affected by neuroimmune conditions frequently fall through the cracks—misunderstood, misdiagnosed, and left to navigate fragmented system

The Neuroimmune Research Consortium is being established to change that—by building the research infrastructure, evidence base, and interdisciplinary tools that mental health has long lacked.

Our goal is to generate a comprehensive understanding of how mental illnesses emerge, evolve, and respond to treatment—across the lifespan and across biological systems.

• Psychiatrists – Diagnose and treat mental illness, integrating biological, psychological, and social insights.
   
• Neurologists – Explore brain–behavior connections and neuroimmune disorders.
   
• Internal Medicine Specialists – Identify systemic contributors to psychiatric symptoms.

• Pediatricians, Internists, Emergency Physicians – Recognize early or acute signs of psychiatric conditions and initiate integrated care.

• Immunologists, Rheumatologists, Infectious Disease Experts – Study how immune dysregulation and chronic infections affect brain health.
   
• Gastroenterologists, Endocrinologists, Nephrologists – Investigate metabolic, gut-brain, and inflammatory contributors.
   
• Cardiologists, Pulmonologists, Hematologists, Oncologists – Analyze systemic factors that shape cognition, mood, and behavior.

• Dermatologists, ENTs, Ophthalmologists – Evaluate autoimmune, sensory, and inflammatory disorders with psychiatric overlaps.
   
• Geneticists, Pathologists, Epidemiologists – Analyze data at micro and macro scales to inform risk and resilience models.

• Psychologists, Neuropsychologists, Social Workers, Psychiatric Nurses – Provide direct care and contribute key behavioral and cognitive insights.
   
• School-Based Teams – Support early detection and track longitudinal developmental trajectories and contribute essential insights into early intervention.

• BCBAs, SLPs, OTs, PTs - Deliver specialized interventions that improve communication, behavior, and function. Their observations contribute valuable data for research.

• Patients & Caregivers – Share vital real-world perspectives on illness emergence, care pathways, and long-term outcomes.
   
• Advocates – Ensure research and systems design reflect lived realities and equity goals.
   

• Life Sciences Innovators – Contribute to discovery of diagnostics, biomarkers, and targeted treatments.
   
• Policy Leaders & Payers – Shape the structural conditions that govern access, funding, and equity.