Since the 1990s, non-invasive brain stimulation has grown from an experimental idea into an established tool for treating depression as well as advancing neuroscience research. Among these technologies, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is clinically validated and used to treat major depressive disorder, also known as unipolar depression.

Thinking about the past and how it shaped the present is never simple. But Zach Mainen, who has been here since day one, was a natural person to revisit the “Then and Now” of the Champalimaud Foundation (CF). We spoke about what it meant to take on a new and unpredictable project, and how the dream of a small group gradually became reality. I hope this story inspires you to step into the unknown and to trust that even when the future feels uncertain, it can still unfold into something remarkable.

Maria João Villas-Boas has been close to the Champalimaud Foundation (CF) since its early days. “I was fascinated, truly fascinated,” she told me as I asked when she had first heard about it. She had been following Leonor Beleza's work in the press, and the clarity of her clear vision for the CF made a lasting impression.

One phone call set everything in motion. It changed Leonor Beleza’s life and ultimately shaped the lives of countless others who would one day find their way to the Champalimaud Foundation (CF). It was not just a phone call, of course, but the culmination of everything Leonor had built over decades of public service, women's rights advocacy, political experience and a deep belief that institutions exist to serve people.

Megan Carey visited Portugal for the first time in August 2005. She and her husband, Michael Orger, had been invited to a wedding, and a Portuguese friend (André Valente) had promised to show them all the good things that Lisbon had to offer. At the time, Megan was a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Medical School. Amidst some difficulty finding the Capela de São Jerónimo, the discomfort of walking in high heels on the traditional Portuguese cobblestones, and the heat, she remembers rolling her eyes when Mike first suggested: "Lisbon is incredible, one day we should live here!"