As we kick off the 2024-2025 academic year, I wanted to start my first newsletter as NNS President thanking the Neurotrauma Society membership for an amazing 2023-2024! Our 2024 Society President, Adam Ferguson, and Program Committee Chair, Kim Byrnes, did an amazing job organizing and hosting the 41st annual National Neurotrauma Society Symposium in San Francisco this past June. They were supported by members of Society Leadership, many committees and our partners at International Conference Services – too many people to thank by name. Truly, the amount of service performed by our membership is astounding and, for those of you who have donated so much of your time, we cannot thank you enough!!
Before getting to the 2025 Conference, which I am excited to talk about, I wanted to recognize our 2024 Society Award Winners and Poster Award Winners (see more highlights below). Congratulations and thank you for the contributions you have made, and for those you will continue to make, to the Neurotrauma Society. I also want to use this space to announce a new award that will be offered for the first time in 2025. The Dash Award, generously started by our long-time colleague Dr. Pramod Dash, will recognize any investigator who has made a significant contribution to the field of Neurotrauma. Moreover, for the first time in 2025 we will have a special session where 2025 Society Award winners are asked to present their research to the Society. Please look for nominations for these awards coming this fall!
Moving on to 2025, our theme for the 42nd Annual National Neurotrauma Symposium is “Ringing in Collaboration” which will be hosted at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown June 15-18, 2025. When I think of Philadelphia, I think of our Founders, each with a unique background and expertise, coming together to create the United States Constitution. These individuals needed to work together, listening to one another, compromising, and sharing, to make the achievement possible. In my over 20 years as part of the Neurotrauma Society I have always marveled at our Members willingness to work together to address two of the most challenging neurological disorders: traumatic brain and spinal cord injury. We are a Society who supports each other, and particularly our trainees, as we have a shared goal of improving the quality-of-life for those patients who have experienced Neurotrauma. In 2025, we will continue to highlight all of the exciting research from our membership, the novel technological advancements, advances in our understanding of mechanisms and potential treatment paradigms – but with a nod toward how we have worked together to make these findings possible.
We have assembled a fantastic group of program committee members and volunteers, representing a wide range of expertise in preclinical and clinical research in brain and spinal cord trauma, as well as a wealth of diversity in career stages and backgrounds. This committee is well suited to provide a fresh and compelling program across a wide spectrum of research areas.The Session Proposal Submission portal will be open October 1 – November 8. We encourage all our members, even the most junior, to submit a session. This conference is designed for you!
In addition to cutting edge science, we will also offer numerous opportunities for networking, scientific exchange, advocacy, and training of our junior scientists and clinicians. We are continuing to build on programs that were successful in previous years, such as the Mentor:Mentee session, multiple workshops and our exciting local scholars program. We’re excited to have these opportunities available for our attendees, and we hope to see everyone take advantage of the diverse range of programming that the 2025 meeting will bring. We look forward to seeing everyone in Philadelphia!
Gene G Gurkoff, PhD
President, National Neurotrauma Society
