The Hershey Conference on Developmental Brain Injury was started in 1997 and has grown to a popular, well attended, yet still small, international conference of physician-scientists and basic scientists, with a high number of trainees. The 2020 12th Hershey Conference will return to Europe and will be organized by Drs. Henrik Hagberg, Carina Mallard from Sweden and Drs. Ferriero and Vannucci from the US. We are applying for support from NIH primarily to fund attendance for junior investigators and trainees. The overall goal of the proposed meeting is to bring together an international group of clinical and basic scientists involved in research pertaining to brain injury and regeneration in developing animals and humans. The approach remains the same as previously and has four objectives: 1) The mentoring of trainees and junior colleagues with the specific goal of keeping them engaged in academics 2) The strengthening of existing collaborations and the promotion of novel collaborations especially with investigators from outside the field 3) Exploration of specific areas where there are gaps in our current knowledge 4) Identification of advanced techniques that will rapidly move the field forward Therefore, the objective of this R13 is to provide the necessary continued support of trainees and junior faculty. Extensive participation of trainees, both from US and abroad, has been a hallmark of the Hershey Conference. Trainees, both MD and PhD, constitute 30-50% of all participants. This meeting has been an excellent opportunity for informal interaction between trainees and the leaders in the field as well as a mechanism for post-doctoral and visiting scientist recruitment. Thus, a specific aim of this R13 is to promote trainee and junior faculty participation and to identify trainees/junior faculty from racial/ethnic minorities and underrepresented institutions to attend this conference.
Hypoxic-ischemic and other injury to the neonatal brain continues to be a major cause of mortality and morbidity in infants and children and a tremendous public health problem. Prevention of the cerebral dysfunction in these children is of high importance. The Hershey Conference on Developmental Brain Injury brings together an international group comprised of leaders in this field, esteemed scientists from outside but related fields, as well as a high proportion of young trainees to continue the important discussions and dissemination of information constantly geared towards finding new and better modes of intervention and neuroprotection.
