NNS 2012 Theme: The Spectrum of Neurotrauma

From pediatric TBI, blast brain injury and spinal cord injury management
to translational medicine and neuro-rehabilitation

Dear Fellow Neurotrauma Researchers:

On behalf of the National Neurotrauma Society (NNS), I like to warmly invite you to join us in celebrating the 30th Annual Symposium of the National Neurotrauma Society, set at the historic Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, Phoenix, Arizona. This year’s three and a half day conference from July 22-25, 2012 has 22 exciting sessions, including six parallel sessions that cover a balance of preclinical and clinical research – so I promise that there will be something for everyone, regardless of your discipline.

The theme of this year’s conference is “The Spectrum of Neurotrauma” - we will focus on several interlinked and topical issues in neurotrauma. In the TBI subarea, one of the understudied areas is pediatric brain injury, which will be featured in this conference. On the other hand, during this past year, we continue to see an explosion of interests and publications in blast brain injury – is it really different from classical TBI? How do you best model it in animals? Do they mimic blast brain injury in humans? Regarding spinal cord injury (SCI), there will be a focused session on various functional deficits and complications after SCI. In terms of neurotrauma management and treatment, we will provide state-of-the-art overviews of the utility of biomarkers and new MRI imaging technology, promising preclinical drug treatment and update of on-going clinical trials in TBI and SCI, including the two on-going progesterone trials. We will also cover the concept that neurotrauma is not only an acute medical problem, but can evolve into a chronic medical condition for the patients. Thus more sophisticated research and clinical tools in neuro-rehabilitation will be the key, as is the understanding of the molecular evolution from TBI to chronic neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). Lastly, we add a little global flavor by having several international speakers to talk about their TBI management experience in their own countries.

As for our popular Public Education/Outreach Event, this year it will be held at Melvin Cohen Educational Conference Center at the Barrow Neurological Institute at Phoenix Children's Hospital. It will provide an overview of TBI/SCI, NNS research area across the nation and injury prevention. Our target audience is physicians, nurses, allied health workers, athletic trainers, students, patients, families, and other interested individuals.

The Conference venue is the magnificently built Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, known as the "Jewel of the Desert”. It provides a restful oasis of 39 acres covered with lush gardens, glistening swimming pools (8), including the famous Paradise Pool featuring private cabanas, a 92-foot waterslide and swim-up bar. These features should keep you cool and refreshed throughout your stay. Exploration-wise, the resort provides guided hikes, jeep tours and mountain bike rentals for excursions to the adjacent preserve and parks. For those who are even more adventurous, I highly recommend visiting the Grand Canyon, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is only a few hours’ of drive away. The hotel also provides air tours of Grand Canyon. Our Welcome Reception is Sunday, July 22 from 6 pm) please join your colleagues as the sun goes down for a Southwestern reception in the shadow of the mountains. Our Awards Ceremony Dinner is set for Tuesday, July 24. Please join me in a relaxing dinner and then celebrate with your colleagues into the night.

The members of the Program Committee, along with the members of the National Neurotrauma Society, look forward to welcoming you to Phoenix.

We hope you to see you there!

Kevin K.W. Wang, Ph.D.
2012 President, National Neurotrauma Society

Center Director, Center of Neuroproteomics and Biomarkers Research
Adjunct Associate Professor
Department of Psychiatry
University of Florida
P.O. Box 100256
Gainesville, Florida, USA
kwang@ufl.edu
Office 352-294-4900

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)