Spring Break: A True Story of Hope and Determination

Steven Benvenisti

Partner at Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., USA

Description:

Attorney Steven Benvenisti will share the captivating story of a famous case involving a college student who sustained severe traumatic brain injuries and catastrophic orthopedic injuries, resulting in his family being asked to consent his organ donation. “Spring Break” is a book about this true story, which is regularly featured on TV, the news media and has been presented at hundreds of international conferences. This book highlights the compelling role played of Rehabilitation in getting a patient to reach successes far beyond the expectations of Neurologists and related professionals.

What will the audience take away from your presentation?

• Explain how the audience will be able to use what they learn?
  The audience will benefit from the powerful perspective of the patient, their family and their rehabilitation professional providers.
• How will this help the audience in their job?
  The thousands who have already seen this program presented by Steven Benvenisti have shared that they now have a much better understanding of how a brain injury or disorder impacts the patient and their familyʼs lives. This program provides powerful and effective tools for the audience to utilize in enhancing their own personal and professional lives, as well as benefitting the lives of their patients and families.
• Is this research that other faculty could use to expand their research or teaching?
  Yes
• Does this provide a practical solution to a problem that could simplify or make a designerʼs job more efficient?
  Yes Will it improve the accuracy of a design, or provide new information to assist in a design problem?

Biography:
Steven is a Partner at one of the largest personal injury law firms in the United States and is included on the list of the National Trial Lawyers “Top 100 Trial Lawyers”. He is President of the Brain Injury Alliance and is a Director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Steven has received over 30 awards, including a US Congressional Citation, US House of Representatives Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition and “Citizen of the Year”. Steven authored “Spring Break: A True Story of Hope and Determination” about a famous case he handled involving a severely brain injured college student. Spring Break credits the doctors, nurses and rehabilitation professionals for the wonderful work that they do in improving the lives of patients and their families. He has been a keynote speaker at over 100 conferences and gladly donates 100% of his honoraria to charity.

Cortical Plasticity as Cellular Models for Chronic Pain and Anxiety

Min Zhuo

University of Toronto, Canada
Xian Jiaotong University, China

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and insular cortex (IC) are activated in pain conditions. In this talk, I will discuss evidence from rodent studies that ACC/IC activation contributes to chronic pain states and describe several forms of synaptic plasticity that may underlie this effect. In particular, one form of long-term potentiation (LTP), which is triggered by the activation of NMDA receptors and expressed by an increase in AMPA-receptor function, sustains the affective component of the pain state. Another form of LTP, which is triggered by the activation of kainate receptors and expressed by an increase in glutamate release, may contribute to pain-related anxiety. Finally, I will discuss recent translational progress made in leading novel AC1 inhibitor for the treatment of chronic pain and anxiety.

Biography:
Dr. Zhuo is a full Professor of Physiology, University of Toronto. He is the Michael Smith Chair in Neuroscience and Mental Health, and the Canada Research Chair Tier I in Pain and Cognition. He has published more than 300 articles in professional journals such as Nature, Science, Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, Nature communications and Science Translational medicine. His H-factor is 68. He is the founding editor and editor-in-chief for the online journal of Molecular Pain and Molecular Brain. He is a Fellow of Royal Society of Canada and the director of the Center for Neuron and Brain Disease in Xian, China.