The goals and objectives of the Neurotechnology Satellite Conference are: 1. to provide a forum for the presentation and demonstration of the most recent scientific and clinical findings in neurotechnology among health care professionals involved in treating paralysis. 2. To foster discussions and collaborations between health care providers and investigators engaged in neurotechnology development to further translational and clinical applications. 3. To measure the effectiveness of this conference and identify key barriers of acceptance among the targeted population. 4. To disseminate conference proceedings through the World Wide Web access and/or the peer-reviewed literature. This project will deliver an environment to exchange ideas and suggestions between clinicians and investigators focusing on applications best suited for the treatment of persons with neurological impairments. It will contribute to the advancement of scientific knowledge in the form of direct feedback and concerns to the researchers in this field. The conference will target clinicians, physical therapists and health care professionals treating persons with neurological disorders. The dissemination of this conference will be through an established gathering of health care professionals, the American Physical Therapist Association Annual Combined Sections Conference, upon approval. To help advance scientific knowledge, the satellite conference will gather feedback regarding clinician concerns and issues and disseminate this information to the neurotechnology research community. This feedback may help to direct future scientific inquiry in this field. The conference agenda will address the broad topics and overview of neurotechnology, categories and applicable conditions. User demonstrations and practitioner testimonials will follow along with an active discussion regarding barriers of acceptance. The satellite conference duration will be 3 hours to one half day. Participants will be surveyed for feedback gathered from the discussion. Results will be provided to the research community in the form of a progress report. The importance of this satellite conference is the gathering of clinicians and investigators to collaborate toward the advancement of neurotechnology devices. ? ? ?
