Summit 2011 Will Bring Together Health-Care Leaders to Help Accelerate Breakthroughs and Treatments in Spinal Cord Medicine

Summit Convenes in Orlando September 16–18

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Renowned leaders and clinicians from spinal cord injury (SCI) medicine will convene for Paralyzed Veterans of America's Summit 2011, September 16–18, 2011, in Orlando to explore and implement holistic strategies to strengthen the continuum of care for spinal cord injured individuals.

"Paralyzed Veterans' Summit 2011 is a venue for clinicians to come together to 'hurry history' in this vitally important — yet often overlooked — area of medicine and health care," said Lana McKenzie, associate executive director of Medical Services and Health Policy for Paralyzed Veterans of America. "Paralyzed Veterans of America has a long track record of helping to change lives and build brighter futures for all people who live with spinal cord injury and related diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS)."

The Summit program, being hosted by Paralyzed Veterans of America, will focus on:

• Sharing Knowledge and Building Skills — from the power of information through e-books to the power of advocacy
• Delivering Optimal Patient Outcomes — through out-of-the-box thinking and innovative research and clinical practice guidelines
• Advancing Milestones — in SCI and MS treatments and cures

Highlights of this year's Summit program include:

• Opening Remarks — Friday, September 16, 7:45 a.m. – Bill Lawson, National President, Paralyzed Veterans of America; Homer Townsend, Executive Director, Paralyzed Veterans of America; and Gordon Mansfield, Chair, Summit 2011 Planning Committee, Former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
• Capitalizing on the Molecular Revolution: Targeting Sodium Channels for Neuroprotection and More Effective Treatments of Pain — Friday, September 16, 8:30 a.m. – Gordon Mansfield (moderator), Stephen G. Waxman, M.D., Ph.D.
• Repair of the Injured Spinal Cord and Brain: Progress and Prospects of Cell Transplantation — Friday, September 16, 10:30 a.m. – Stephen G. Waxman, M.D., Ph.D. (moderator) and Jeffrey D. Kocsis, Ph.D.
• Health-Care Reform — Saturday, September 17, 8:00 a.m. – Gordon Mansfield (moderator); Jonathan Perlin, M.D., Ph.D., MSHA, Chief Medical Officer & Senior Vice President for Quality, Hospital Corporation of America
• Multiple Sclerosis: Thirty Years of Progress — Saturday, September 17 – Christopher Bever, M.D., MBA (moderator), Dennis Bourdette, M.D.
• Technology to Promote Independence — Sunday, September 18 – Michael M. Priebe, M.D. (moderator), Rory A. Cooper, Ph.D.

Summit attendees will have the opportunity to earn 20-plus continuing education units while hearing from renowned leaders from medicine, health care, policy and government.

To register, or for more information on exhibitor and sponsorship opportunities, please visit www.pva.org/Summit2011.

Sixty-five years ago Paralyzed Veterans of America was founded by a band of spinal cord injured service members who returned home from World War II to a grateful nation—but also to a world with few solutions to the challenges they faced. These veterans from the "Greatest Generation" made a decision not just to live, but to live with dignity as contributors to society. They created an organization dedicated to veterans service, medical research and civil rights for people with disabilities. And for more than six decades, Paralyzed Veterans of America and its 34 chapters have been working to create an America where all veterans and people with disabilities, and their families, have everything they need to thrive. www.pva.org

SOURCE Paralyzed Veterans of America