We propose that the 2019 Vestibular Oriented Research Meeting will be held at the recently renovated Marriott Dayton Conference Center located at the Marriott Hotel at the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio on May 19- 22. This meeting will bring together a diverse range of vestibular experts from around the world ? including audiologists, basic scientists, neuroengineers, neurologists, neuroscientists, otologists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists. These experts will come from the communities of government and academic scientists. The principal focus of the 2019 meeting will be on all aspects of vestibular function, including but not limited to (a) mechanisms and anatomy of the vestibular periphery, (b) information processing, (c) visual- vestibular integration, (d) behavioral research, including vestibulo-ocular reflexes and balance, (e) aging, and (f) vestibular systems modeling and neuroengineering. In years 2 and 3, we propose to organize satellite meetings to the American Academy of Neurology meeting (2020) and the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology (2021). These satellite meetings will be more focused on the interests of the associated primary meeting. Our proposed 2020 satellite to the American Academy of Neurology meeting will focus on vestibular neurology (e.g., vestibular migraine, mild traumatic brain injury). Our proposed 2021 satellite to the annual meeting of the Association for Otolaryngology Research (ARO) will focus on vestibular otology (e.g., vestibular periphery, including both vestibular transduction and vestibular hair cell regeneration, as well as vestibular implants). Specific objectives for our meeting series are to (i) promote a sense of community by (ii) fostering scientific discussions and interactions, (iii) supporting young investigators, and (iv) encouraging collaborative research (including sharing of unique resources like some of those at the Naval Medical Research Unit in Dayton) in order to enhance the pace and direction(s) of vestibular research. The meetings will offer trainees (students and post-docs) funding to defray costs providing an opportunity to discuss their work, develop new ideas, and talk with young and established investigators. The 2019 meeting is being co-organized by researchers from the Ohio State University (PI Dr. D Merfeld and Co-I's Drs. O Adunka & J Oas) and the Naval Medical Research Unit ? Dayton (Drs. R. Arnold and D Merfeld) with planning committee members from Baylor College of Medicine (Dr. H. Cohen), Harvard Medical School (Dr. R. Lewis), Johns Hopkins U (Drs. Y Agrawal and M Schubert), National Hearing Center of Excellence (Dr. K Lambert), U of Chicago (Dr. RA Eatock), U of Pavia (Dr. S Ramat), and US Army MEDCOM USAARL (Dr. A Rupert). The Marriott Dayton Conference Center provides an outstanding setting to encourage the intense invigorating discussions planned for this collegial gathering. Its location near the Naval Medical Research Unit in Dayton provides an opportunity to visit unique world-class motion facilities, including their visual-vestibular spherical device, their vertical linear accelerator, and their disorientation research device (also known as the Kraken?).
The vestibular system ? the receptors in our inner ear that sense motion and orientation and their associated neuronal connections ? makes fundamental contributions to autonomic regulation, balance, spatial orientation, and visual acuity during motion; its impairment is common and can be severely debilitating. Despite its fundamental significance, vestibular function remains poorly understood ? in part, because there is no single meeting that brings together the entire vestibular research community. Our Vestibular Oriented Research meetings will bring together leading and aspiring vestibular researchers from around the world to (a) share and build knowledge, (b) help unify our diverse transdisciplinary specialty, (c) transform interactions within our vestibular research community and (d) improve interactions with independent and/or parallel disciplines (e.g., aging, audiology, neuroengineering, neurology, neuroscience, otology, physical therapy, and vision) that include substantial overlap with one or more of the various vestibular sciences.
