Project 460074

Concussion or mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is an urgent public health concern and one of the least understood neurological injuries. Children and youths are especially vulnerable: they are disproportionately affected by concussions and take longer than adults to recover. Moreover, the effects of concussion can result in cognitive, motor, emotional, and behavioural challenges that can persist for many months. Such difficulties during this critical developmental period in the lives of children and youths can disrupt school, social and psychological functioning. The challenge of successful rehabilitation is to identify emerging interventions to optimize function and brain recovery following paediatric concussion. The overarching goal of this proposal is to create an international multidisciplinary research planning collaboration to develop and prioritize the next generation of rehabilitation interventions for pediatric concussion. We will bring together scientists, clinical researchers and trainees in pediatric concussion together with leading scientists and clinical researchers to: exchange knowledge, stimulate new ideas, identify challenges, opportunities and establish new collaborations. The local organizers have selected an exciting list of external speakers with expertise in child/youth brain development, mental health issues in youth, non-invasive brain stimulation, myelin regeneration, sleep and sex and gender studies. The planning committee have carefully considered sex/gender, ethnicity, and career stage in inviting the leading-edge scientists, early career researchers and trainees who are innovators in their respective fields. This symposium will: (i) motivate and stimulate new and innovative ideas to advance the field of pediatric concussion rehabilitation (ii) reinforce existing collaborations, (iii) develop new multidisciplinary, international collaborations and, (iv) define new emerging areas of research priorities.