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Experts to discuss traumatic brain injury treatments

A gathering of national experts featuring a discussion of new technology to aid in the treatment of traumatic brain injuries will take place at a meeting sponsored at MUSC on March 26 through 28.

Elisabeth Bradley, D.A., assistant professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, will host the meeting titled a “Forum on Less Severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).”

Less severe TBI is often termed in literature as either a mild/moderate or minor head injury.

The meeting brings together national experts as panelists to discuss the development of a new instrument to assess the outcomes of less severe TBI.

Emergency department data confirms a recent decline in hospitalization rates for TBI patients. It is thought that many of these individuals experience long-term results which often remain unassociated with the head injuries. Epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Division of Acute Care, Rehabilitation Research and Disabilities Prevention want to document what happens to these individuals.

National experts attending the meeting include: Thomas Kay, Ph.D., assistant research professor of rehabilitation medicine, New York University; Ellen MacKenzie, Ph.D., professor and associate dean, School of Hygiene and Public Health, Johns Hopkins University; John Corrigan, Ph.D., Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Ohio State University; Audrey Holland, Ph.D., regents professor of speech and hearing sciences, University of Arizona; Sureyya Dikmen, Ph.D., professor of rehabilitation medicine and neurological surgery, University of Washington; Barry Willer, Ph.D., professor of rehabilitation medicine, State University of New York-Buffalo.

Also in attendance will be Gale Whiteneck, Ph.D., director of research at Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colo.; Anbesaw Selassie, D.Ph., Department of Preventive Medicine, USC; and Joe Sniezek, M.D., MPH, Jean Langlois, Sc.D., David Thurman, M.D., from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Attending the meeting as special invites from the MUSC community will be: Michael Horner, Ph.D., Veterans Affairs Hospital; Mark Wagner, Ph.D., and Randy Waid, Ph.D., Institute of Psychiatry; Kit Simpson, D.Ph., Department of Pharmacology; and Alice Libet, Ph.D., and Candia Kaplan, Ph.D., Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

In addition to having an interest in documenting the outcomes of less severe TBI, the CDC awarded cooperative agreements to both South Carolina and Colorado to establish the first population-based TBI registries in the United States. The purpose of the registries is to determine, prospectively, the long-term outcomes, including disability, handicap, impairment, secondary conditions, and related outcomes of citizens of each state who survive TBI.

CDC plans to provide the assessment instrument developed for the cooperative agreement to other states.

Bradley serves as co-investigator for research and follow-up to the South Carolina project.