One Last Slide from the Chair

Closing Remarks | OHBM 2025 – Brisbane

As OHBM 2025 just came to a close in Brisbane—and as my tenure as Chair of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping also comes to a close—I want to share a personal reflection.

The first OHBM I attended was also the very first OHBM annual meeting—Paris, 1995, exactly thirty years ago. I was just starting out as a graduate student, still trying to orient myself in the emerging landscape of brain imaging, and that meeting left an indelible mark on me. It was smaller, of course, but it had something electric. I remember standing in front of a poster presented by David Van Essen himself, deep in discussion with trainees asking pointed questions—not in some closed session with other luminaries, but right there in the poster hall.

And seeing Vince Calhoun here at OHBM 2025, racing through the hallways with a poster tube slung over his shoulder—I know we’re still in a good place in that regard.

These moments are fundamental to our community and to our corner of science, which thrives on shared passion, curiosity, and conversations across all levels—regardless of career stage, background, or home institution.

Fast forward thirty years, I was stopped in one of the OHBM 2025 poster aisles by a young woman. She introduced herself as the soon-to-be graduate student of Alex Wiesman, a former postdoc researcher from our lab, now newly recruited as faculty at Simon Fraser. She shared how thrilled she was by the collaborative and welcoming atmosphere of the meeting—of the OHBM community. And it struck me: the circle was closing. But it is not just a circle: it is a wheel, turning forward.

The spirit of OHBM—that blend of openness, mentorship, and shared discovery—has endured and grown. More people, more data, more ideas, more diversity in methods, perspectives, and lived experiences—but the same beating heart: science through collaboration first, with just enough competition to keep us on our toes.

It has been an immense privilege to serve as Chair of the Organization this past year. With the support of my colleagues—and now friends—on Council, our dedicated Executive Office, and all of you, we tried a few new things—some ambitious, some modest—but always with one guiding principle: to preserve and amplify that spirit. Even in uncertain times, even as challenges grow more complex, we have kept collaboration and consensus at the center.

As always, I leave the annual meeting with a head full of ideas—and a phone full of photos of posters and slides that I will definitely go back and decipher properly. Eventually.

This meeting offers, each year, a panoramic snapshot of our field—our tools, our questions, and the incredible breadth of what we seek to understand about the brain.

That said, I would like to leave you with a gentle recommendation. With the rise of large datasets, data-driven approaches, and yes, AI—though not only AI—we seem to have entered the great age of map proliferation. I am sure many of you noticed, as I did, that the number of brain maps per slide and per poster has… escalated. I even saw one slide with about 300 maps—and I am still recovering from that experience.

So let us continue to innovate—but also to reflect. More maps do not always mean more meaning. Multiplying maps is not the same as multiplying knowledge. And I plead guilty myself. So let us challenge ourselves not just to show results, but to ask: What do these methods help us understand? What mechanisms are we uncovering? What deeper questions can we now ask?

I also want to say how impressed I have been by Brisbane. I was last here just seven years ago, and the city has grown with such grace and vision. It feels like a model of thoughtful urban development.

And finally, a heartfelt thank you to the Australian OHBM chapter, and to everyone who helped bring this meeting to life—with your warmth, your energy, and your patience. With OHBM 2025, we have truly tested the resilience of this city—not just its infrastructure, but its nightlife—especially after Club Night. Consider this our stress test ahead of the 2032 Summer Olympics. You passed.

So with that, I will say: stay creative, stay resilient, and stay curious—despite the geopolitical storms we all sail through.

I hope to see all of you next year in Bordeaux, France—à bientôt!