TBI experts from across North America convened at the 2022 Joyce Massey TBI Summit
ANN ARBOR – On May 5, the Max Harry Weil Institute for Critical Care Research and Innovation hosted its biennial Joyce Massey TBI Summit at Michigan Stadium’s Junge Family Champions Center. Made possible through the support of the Massey Family Foundation, the conference brought together experts in traumatic brain injury (TBI) from across North America to share their research and discuss important barriers to improving patient outcomes. The day was divided into 3 sections: Current Research in TBI, Why We Study TBI, and The Future of TBI Research.
CURRENT RESEARCH IN TBI
The Summit opened with a presentation on biomarkers in TBI from keynote speaker Dr. Claudia Robertson, Professor of Neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Robertson was followed by Dr. JB Phillips, Neurotrauma Portfolio Manager for the Combat Casualty Research Program of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, who updated attendees on the latest TBI-focused projects in development at the Department of Defense.
The rest of the morning session was dedicated to the mentees of the 2022 Summit’s key opinion leaders. The mentees and their presentation topics were as follows:
Hansen Deng, MD (University of Pittsburgh): “Time to Follow Commands in Severe Traumatic Brain Injury Survivors with Favorable Recovery at 2 Years”
Mark MacLean, MD, MsC (Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia): “Exploring Mechanisms Underlying Mild and Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury-related Microvasculopathy”
Laura Ngwenya, MD, PhD, FAANS (University of Cincinnati): “Exploring the Ripple Effect of Cortical Spreading Depolarizations”
Jay Rakkar, MD (UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh): “Novel Tool to Capture Medical Therapeutic Support in Children with Severe TBI”
Andrea Schneider MD, PhD (University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine): “Cognitive Outcomes after Traumatic Brain Injury: Insights from Epidemiology”
After the mentee presentations, the Michigan Athletics team took attendees on a tour of the Wolverines locker room and the football field, where everyone gathered for a group photo before returning to the Champions Center for lunch and poster presentations.
WHY WE STUDY TBI
The afternoon portion of the Summit began with two survivor stories. The first was presented by Elana Duffy, a military veteran who suffered a TBI as a result of a blast injury from a roadside bomb. Elana spoke on her experiences as soldier and patient, and then veteran. She also spoke about her work developing Pathfinder, a platform that uses artificial intelligence to help veterans and active service members find support and resources.
The next patient story was presented as a pair: Ryan Finneran, who survived a harrowing TBI when he was in high school, and Matthew Finneran, Ryan’s brother who began his career in medicine and also started a non-profit in order to help others in Ryan’s situation. The two brothers’ experiences inspired attendees and served as pivotal reminders of the impact their research has on patients, families, and the greater TBI community.
THE FUTURE OF TBI RESEARCH
From left: Claudia Robertson, MD (Baylor College of Medicine); Francis Bernard, MD, FRCPC, FNCS (Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal); David O. Okonkwo, MD, PhD (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center); Jed A. Hartings, PhD (University of Cincinnati); Ramon Diaz-Arrastia, MD, PhD (University of Pennsylvania); Patrick Kochanek, MD, MCCM (University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine); Alon Friedman, MD, PhD (Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, & Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel)
With the mentees having their turn in the spotlight earlier in the day, it was finally time for their mentors to step up to the podium. With the intention of igniting conversation and debate, seven key opinion leaders from across the United States and Canada participated in a panel discussion centered on what they thought were the greatest knowledge gaps in TBI. The floor was then opened to attendees for a Q&A session followed by a conference-wide vote to select the greatest TBI knowledge gap among the topics presented by the panel. The top 3 are below:
How best to use biomarkers to link preclinical and clinical studies
Translation failure and the use of preclinical consortia to address it
Knowing what we are treating
The Joyce Massey TBI Summit is one of three Massy Foundation-supported programs hosted by the Weil Institute. On June 9, the 2022 Massey TBI Grand Challenge will conclude with its capstone Wolverine Den event, where teams pitch their ideas and innovations in TBI care before a group of judges Shark Tank-style. The Massey TBI Regional Conference, a forum for sharing knowledge and findings from the Summit with a broader network of partners in TBI treatment and research, will take place in 2023 followed by the next Summit in 2024.