OFF THE BEAT: THE BRAIN MUSEUM IN BUFFALO, NY

If the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz had been let loose in this place he might have been tempted to shoplift. He wanted a brain and the Brain Museum in Buffalo, NY has somewhere from 85 to 90 of them right now, floating in fluid and sitting on “beautifully illuminated” shelves. They are an attraction for everyone from neurosurgery students to researchers to whole families of tourists. It is the only museum in the nation – possibly in the world, since no list of brain museums exists -- devoted exclusively to the brain.

I suppose if you have a beautiful mind, you also have a beautiful brain. “Some have pathologies,” says Professor Christopher Cohan, museum curator, regarding the specimens, “but most are normal.”

Want to be part of a Think Tank? There’s a literal one at the Brain Museum (formally known as the Museum of Neuroanatomy but everyone, including Dr. Cohan, calls it simply “The Brain Museum”). It’s a vat that holds up to 50 brains. If you want yours in there you’ll have to donate your body to the medical school of the University at Buffalo, which houses the museum on its South Campus in the Biomedical Building. No guarantee that your brain will end up in the museum, but Dr. Cohan, a professor of pathology and anatomical sciences at the University, says that nobody’s body is rejected. That’s a great relief, I guess.

There are also interactive exhibits and models of the brain. The museum was established in 1994 by Harold Brody, MD -- a professor who believed that everyone has a fascination for the brain. Dr. Brody died in 2008 and, no, I did not ask if his brain is in the museum. They wouldn’t have told me anyway: all brain donations are anonymous and no displayed brain is identified by its former owner.

Dr. Cohan carries on the founder’s work, and with the same commitment to educating a curious public. He says he has always been interested in the brain since he was a kid, calling it a “magnificent” thing and asserting that, “it’s what makes us human.”

You might not shuffle off to Buffalo - a little over a three and a half hour drive from the Binghamton area – just to visit the Brain Museum, but if you happen to find yourself in that corner of New York State, do drop in. If you go, please say hello to the head of the mustached man in the tank; he’s been in that tank with his brain exposed for over 7 decades, and he’s still in the Museum.

Dr. Cohan -- with his quiet, indulgent sense of humor about all this -- is just the kind of guy you would want to guide you on a tour of the brain. “Call me,” he says, explaining that a couple of years from now, the Brain Museum will move to a new location in the downtown area which will make it more accessible, “more public, more user-friendly.” For now, an appointment is needed for a guided tour. It’s not brain surgery. Well…

Visit medicine.buffalo.edu for more info or call Dr. Cohan at (716) 829-3081 to arrange a tour.