In 2007, the NNS established a formal association with the Neurotrauma Section of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/ Congress of Neurological Surgeons, bringing clinicians and basic scientists closer together.

Commensurate with the major expansion in research in regeneration and repair of the injured nervous system it now seems more appropriate than ever for our society to reach out to those who provide care for neurotrauma patients in the post acute phase - rehabilitation and post acute care specialists.

To facilitate this increasing diversity in our society, we have surveyed the society membership for scientific directions that they wish to see included in the 2012 annual meeting. We have also included six parallel sessions to be held on two of the afternoons of the meeting to appeal to the wide spectrum of interest of members of our society.

As in previous years, we have retained the plenary presentation format and we will include more time than ever for the best presentation selected from abstracts, to provide exposure for the work of our best young investigators. A provisional outline of the program for the July 2012 meeting is available on the Scientific Sessions page, and we invite feedback about topics of interest that could potentially be included.

In addition, we will include community outreach in the form of a special guidelines based management seminar directed at junior neurotrauma care providers. In addition, we will take advantage of the concentration of neurotrauma expertise and provide community outreach seminars for the public on topics such as Head and Spinal Cord Injury Prevention Understanding Head and Spinal Cord Injury, Living with Head and Spinal Cord Injured Patients and a Question and Answer Meet the Expert Session.

Social program - Phoenix offers a wide diversity of social activities and outdoor recreation, and we have built in a free afternoon to encourage attendees to avail themselves of these opportunities. As in previous years, we will open the symposium with an outdoor welcome reception held outside on the Squak Peak Lawn with a gorgeous view of Squaw Peak and the Phoenix Mountain Preserve.

To fill gap in medical patient management knowledge gap and practice in the following areas:

1. Inform physicians on pediatric neurotrauma management guidelines
2. Educate attendees on the current understanding of the usefulness of diagnostic tests or guidelines
3. Inform physicians the availability of various CSF/blood tests (for diagnostic tests)
4. Discuss and share proposed practice guidelines (for pediatric brain injury)