Born out of the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Institute for Brain Protection Sciences, the conference will be Oct. 3-6 at the Vinoy Renaissance, St. Petersburg. The event is intended for a broad range of pediatric providers who work within the bounds of brain health sciences, including neurology, neurosurgery, nursing, psychology and psychiatry. Topics include advances in brain tumors, fetal in-utero surgery, depression, non-pharmaceutical chronic pain treatment and more.
The three-day event is a rare opportunity for a broad range of providers who work within the bounds of brain health sciences to connect, engage and strategize issues in pediatric brain health and mental health, including discussions of academics and brain and mental health research.
“Science surrounding the pediatric brain — the development, diseases/conditions, treatment/cures, mental health — are at the forefront of cutting-edge medicine and research worldwide,” explains George Jallo, the hospital’s physician in chief and medical director of the Institute for Brain Protection Sciences. “It is important for us in this institute to be contributors and educators on these important aspects of pediatric medicine.”
Jallo points to the wide array of topics that will be presented: “Specialists in the areas of neurosurgery, neurology, neuro-oncology, psychiatry, psychology, neuropsychology, rehabilitative medicine and sports medicine will be sharing state-of-the art information on topics that affect so many children, including epilepsy/seizures, pediatric stroke, brain and spinal cord tumors, mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, ADHD, chronic pain, headaches, traumatic brain injuries, concussions and many more.”
Jallo, who joined Johns Hopkins Medicine 2003 as a pediatric neurosurgeon on the Baltimore campus, started the institute in 2015 in St. Petersburg, uniting clinicians, researchers and educators focused on protecting neurodevelopment and caring for children with injuries and illnesses that affect the brain.
“Additionally, there will be lectures of special interest on topics such as transverse myelitis in children, fetal in-utero surgery and the use of medical cannabis in children and teens. All of these are hot topics in the medical community at this time,” Jallo says.
“Any time you can collaborate and learn from specialists in their fields, it benefits the patients and families we treat,” he continues. “For this conference, we are bringing in experts from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Kennedy Krieger and even Stanford to bring advances in medicine to our community. Also, this is a multidisciplinary institute where many of our patients are seen by several physicians in multiple disciplines – therefore offering a coordinated approach to their plan of care. Often these cases are discussed weekly in care conferences with many specialists offering feedback.”
The keynote speaker will be Carlos A. Pardo-Villamizar, M.D., the director of the Johns Hopkins Transverse Myelitis Center in Baltimore. Nir Shimony, M.D., who trained as an international fellow in the institute for two years and has since gone on to become the only pediatric neurosurgeon at Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania, also will be among the speakers. Mari Groves, M.D., who also completed a fellowship working with Jallo in Baltimore and now is with Johns Hopkins University, also will speak.
For information or to register, click here.