New Frontiers in Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Research over the past few decades has resulted in many advances in our understanding and management of the outcomes of pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI), but prior research has often occurred in separate academic silos, with relatively little integration across domains or disciplines. The scientific advances that have occurred within domains (e.g., genomics and proteomics of neural recovery) are not likely to result in significant progress in the clinical management of children with TBI until they become the topic of collaborative research that cuts across multiple levels of analysis. Thus, the time appears to be ripe for an interdisciplinary conference that promotes integrative and translational research efforts. No recent conference has focused on the 'state-of-the-art' of research on pediatric TBI and promoting networking and collaboration among investigators. The PIs therefore propose a cutting-edge research conference on pediatric TBI. The conference agenda will be designed to promote multi-level, integrative, and translational research, and to encourage both new and established investigators to undertake research consistent with this goal. The conference program will highlight the need to investigate factors across a range of levels (i.e., biological, medical, psychological, social) that account for variations in outcomes following pediatric TBI and to translate the results of research into effective treatments and interventions. The conference will include presentations by individual speakers from multiple disciplines, panel discussions, and poster symposia sessions. The program will address a range of topics: genomics/proteomics; neuropathology and pathophysiology; neuroimaging; medical intervention and clinical trials; neurobehavioral outcomes; psychosocial intervention and rehabilitation. The conference should attract a multidisciplinary audience that includes both established and new investigators, as well as graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The conference will be designed not so much as a comprehensive review of past research as a forum for presentation of newer approaches that illustrate multi-level, integrative, and translational research and promote such research in the future. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability in youth under the age of 15, and therefore represents a major public health problem. Estimates suggest that over 17,000 children are left with permanent disabilities as a result of TBI each year. A cutting-edge research conference will promote a better understanding of the outcomes of childhood TBI and help engender more effective treatment and intervention on behalf of children with TBI.