Traumatic brain injury research priorities: the Conemaugh International Brain Injury Symposium

In 2005, an international symposium was convened with over 100 neuroscientists from 13 countries and major research centers to review current research in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and develop a consensus document on research issues and priorities. Four levels of TBI research were the focus of the discussion: basic science, acute care, post-acute neurorehabilitation, and improving quality of life (QOL). Each working group or committee was charged with reviewing current research, discussion and prioritizing future research directions, identifying critical issues that impede research in brain injury, and establishing a research agenda that will drive research over the next five years, leading to significantly improved outcomes and QOL for individuals suffering brain injuries. This symposium was organized at the request of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, to follow up on the National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference on TBI as mandated by the TBI ACT of 1996. The goal was to review what progress had been made since the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Conference, and also to follow up on the 1990's Decade of the Brain Project. The major purpose of the symposium was to provide recommendations to the U.S. Congress on a priority basis for research, treatment, and training in TBI over the next five years.