Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the University of Cambridge will host the 2024 Meeting of the International Neurotrauma Society (INTS) following a competitive bidding process.
Events open to the public include a symposium on sports head injury and concussion at Cambridge Corn Exchange from 9.30am to 11am on Wednesday 4 September.
It will feature talks by double Paralympian in triathlon George Peasgood and medical services director for the Rugby Football Union, Simon Kemp.
Also there will be Dawn Astle, daughter of West Bromwich Albion and England striker Jeff Astle, who died after years of suffering with dementia aged 59 in January 2002.
Dawn and family launched the Jeff Astle Foundation in 2015 and pushed the game into commissioning a study, which found professional footballers were 3.5 times at risk of neurodegenerative diseases.
Tickets can be booked via the NeuroTrauma 2024 website and cost £10.
Football lovers are welcome to attend a charity football match at 5.15pm on Sunday 1 September on Parker’s Piece, which is the home of Association football with the rules inscribed on a statue.
It is being led by Glasgow neuropathologist Willie Stewart from Head Safe Football and Judith Gates, wife of Bill Gates who played 333 games for Middlesbrough and his story featured in the book, ‘No-brainer: A Footballer's Story of Life, Love and Brain Injury’.
The members’ events will take place between 2 and 5 September at various Cambridge colleges and the Guildhall with presentations from scientists and clinicians dedicated to brain and spinal cord injury research and patient care.
Specialists from Addenbrooke’s and the University of Cambridge will be joined by more than 60 speakers from Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America and South America.
Incoming president of the INTS, Cambridge University Hospital’s professor of neurosurgery, Peter Hutchinson, said: “We are very honoured to have been selected to host this meeting and are grateful to everyone who has made it possible.
“This includes our delegates, exhibitors, and experts from all corners of the world, who have taken time out of their busy working schedules to share their considerable knowledge.
“We are also very proud that some of that number include experts from Addenbrooke’s and the University of Cambridge, who work so diligently to improve outcomes for patients.”
Consultant neurosurgeon and associate professor, Mr Adel Helmy, who is leading the scientific programme, added: ‘This conference brings together the leading researchers from around the world to drive forward research.
“Brain and spine trauma has a major impact on patients and societies around the world, but we are at a really exciting time in neurotrauma research.”
Instrumental in putting the programme together are neurosurgery research manager Carole Turner, neurosurgical trainee, Tamara Tajsic, and conference organisers, Opening Doors.
Cambridge-based academics presenting during member-only sessions include:
- University professor and first director of Addenbrooke’s Neurosciences Critical Care Unit (NCCU), Professor David Menon CBE - State of the art of Neurotrauma.
- Neurosciences and Trauma Critical Care Unit (NCCU) academic consultant, Dr Jon Coles - neuroimaging in traumatic brain injury.
- Consultant paediatric intensivist and paediatric trauma lead, Dr Shruti Agrawal - paediatric traumatic brain injury.
- Consultant in neurointensive care and chief clinical informatics officer, Dr Ari Ercole - big data.
- Consultant neurosurgeon and university lecturer, Mr Angelos Kolias - early management of traumatic brain injury.
- Consultant in emergency medicine and intensive care medicine, Professor Virginia Newcombe - concussion, mild traumatic brain injury.
- Professor Emeritus of Brain Physics in Neurosurgical Unit, Marek Czosynka - the future of neurotrauma.
- Head of the university’s Brain Physics Laboratory, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Dr Peter Smielewski - cerebral autoregulation and brain physics.
- Specialist in anaesthesia and intensive care, currently studying in the university brain lab, Dr Erta Beqiri - clinical protocols on derived cerebral perfusion pressure targets in traumatic brain injury.
- Cambridge Principal Research Associate, Dr Keri Carpenter - microdialysis and multimodal monitoring.
- Consultant neurosurgeon, Mark Kotter - timing of surgery for cervical myelopathy.
- Consultant neurologist, Ed Needham - systemic adaptive immune responses to TBI.
Other speakers from Cambridge are expected to include: Daniel Whitehouse; Edoardo Viaroli; Laura Hobbs; Brandon Smith; Saniya Mediratta; Chisomo Zimphango; Naomi Deakin; Stefan Yu Bogli; Zofia Czosnyka; Elika Karvandi; Claudia Smith and Midhun Mohan.
Image: top left to right: Professor Peter Hutchinson, Mr Adel Helmy, Professor David Menon, Mr Angelos Kolias. Bottom left to right: Dr Shruti Agrawal, George Peasgood and Dawn Astle.
