A Conversation with Dr. Sabina Berretta
In this extraordinary episode of The Conn Job, Dr. Ann Conn sits down with Dr. Sabina Berretta, MD, PhD—Director of the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center (HBTRC) at McLean Hospital, part of the NIH Neurobiobank.
Dr. Berretta is a globally recognized leader in human brain research whose work has transformed our understanding of psychiatric and neurological illness.
This conversation explores one of the most profound contributions any person can make to science: brain donation. It is the cornerstone of progress in Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, addiction, PTSD, Parkinson’s disease, and more—yet it remains widely misunderstood.
This episode is deeply personal for Dr. Conn, who has pledged to donate her own brain to the HBTRC in honor of her sons, Austin and Colin, whose deaths during psychotic episodes propel her mission forward. Through this act, she hopes their suffering will become part of the knowledge that saves others.
Episode Overview
Dr. Berretta’s path from Italy to Harvard
How studying medicine in Catania sparked her passion for neuroscience
Her early research in clinical neuroscience
Receiving a national fellowship that brought her to the U.S.
Postdoctoral work at MIT studying foundational mechanisms of brain disorders
Why she joined McLean Hospital to study the human brain directly
How access to donated human brain tissue changed the trajectory of her career
Why brain donation is essential
Why no imaging, genetics, or animal models can replace the human brain
How studying real tissue reveals the molecular and cellular changes behind psychiatric symptoms
Why we cannot understand—or treat—mental illness without donated brains
How every donated brain contains unique and irreplaceable scientific information
Breakthrough research made possible by brain tissue
Technological leaps: single-cell transcriptomics, proteomics, spatial mapping
Understanding how neurons, glia, and circuits communicate
Using AI, machine learning, and big-data tools to decode complex psychiatric illness
How tissue research has fueled treatment breakthroughs in neurodegenerative disease
Why psychiatry is entering its most hopeful scientific era
Psychiatric illness is a brain illness
Why the absence of visible neurodegeneration has long misled the public
Evidence that psychiatric disorders show clear molecular and cellular brain differences
How new technologies are overturning old myths and stigma
What actually happens during brain donation
How the HBTRC responds immediately after death
Why donation does not interfere with funeral arrangements or open-casket services
The difference between autopsy and research donation
The importance of discussing wishes with family ahead of time
Why families often report healing, purpose, and meaning through donation
How to register as a brain donor
Why registration is not consent—but a critical conversation starter
How the process takes less than 10 minutes
What families should know and prepare for
Why we urgently need more brain donors
Especially from people with psychiatric illness
Why scientific progress slows without adequate tissue samples
How every brain—affected or not—tells part of the story
The global shortage of tissue for research
How donors accelerate discoveries that could prevent suffering for generations
Why This Episode Matters
Your brain is the most complex organ in the universe.
After death, it can become the key to unlocking treatments that save lives, transform care, and end decades of suffering in silence.
Brain donation is:
an act of courage
an act of love
an act of scientific importance
a legacy that continues long after life ends
As Dr. Conn shares:
“I have pledged to donate my brain to the HBTRC at the time of my death in honor of my sons, Austin and Colin. It’s the most powerful thing I can do to fight the illness that took them from me.”
Whether you are a clinician, caregiver, family member, scientist, or someone seeking meaning, this conversation will change how you understand mental illness, scientific progress, and the profound gift of donation.
Resources Mentioned
Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center (HBTRC) – McLean Hospital
NIH Neurobiobank
Registration resources for brain donation
Information on brain tissue research for psychiatric illness
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