LOS ANGELES, April 23, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — 700+ World leading experts in brain/ spine mapping and therapeutics converged to Los Angeles last week at the 15th Annual World Congress of Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics (SBMT-April 13-15, 2018) in order to rapidly introduce new diagnostics and therapeutics for neurological disorders. This year, the program had 11 keynote speakers including: Drs. Eric Kandel (Nobel Laureate), Deepak Chopra, Walter Copan (Undersecretary for Commerce), Jennifer Fogarty (Chief Scientist NASA Human Research Program), Carl Cotman (professor of Neurology UCI), Rear Admiral Riggs (Director of Research and Development-Defense Health Agency), Kyu Rhee (Chief Medical Office of IBM Watson Health), Jeremy Richman (Avielle Foundation), Warren Boling (SBMT President 2017-2018, Chair of Neurosurgery, LLU), Cartier Esham (Executive Vice President for Emerging Companies at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), and Congressman Ted Lieu.
“This year, we focused our program on innovation, translation, integration, and commercialization of neuro-technologies to advance therapeutics for our patients” said, Dr. Vicky Yamamoto, Executive Director of SBMT and a member of the Executive Board of BMF and SBMT, and a cancer scientist at the Department of Head and Neck Surgery at USC-Keck School of Medicine.
The convention had 400 world-renowned scientists as invited speakers covering latest diagnostics and therapeutics platforms for Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, brain cancer, military medicine (PTSD, Traumatic Brain and Spine Injury, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.…), gene therapy, neuro-vascular disorders, radiation oncology, NeuroEngineering, stroke, epilepsy, multimodality imaging, and spinal disorders including a practical cadaver lab supported by Globus Medical and Marksman Instrument. UCLA Anderson School of Management faculty, George Abe, Professor and Director of the Strategic Management Research Program at UCLA Anderson School of Management and Tom Oser collaborated with Brain Mapping Foundation Brain Technology and Innovation Park (BTIP) and held series of sessions on Commercialization of Neuro-Technologies.
“SBMT has made great impacts in the field scientifically not only through cross pollination of ideas and disciplines but also through enabling scientists to take their innovation to market.” Dr. Tom Oser, Visiting Professor of Management of Technology & Innovation at UCLA Anderson School of Management. “SBMT is an unparalleled network of experts, entrepreneurs, non-profit and government segments, that all appear to be intent on accelerating the adoption of neuroscience solutions,” he continued.
The Brain Technology & Innovation Park (BTIP) is aimed at fostering global partnership amongst biotechnology parks, NASA, US Federal and national labs, industry, academic institutions, non-profit and venture philanthropy organizations in order to rapidly introduce diagnostics and therapeutics for neurological disorders. The BTIP Initiative will be facilitating commercialization of neuro-technologies through necessary funded research and product development phases. Members of the BTIP could additionally participate in our various symposium and workshops at the annual meetings of SBMT in Los Angeles.
“BMF is committed to make Los Angeles the capital of the world for brain and neurotechnology in general; we are honored to have such amazing luminaries as our keynotes and honored to award pioneers in the field including Drs. Kandel, Nikias, Federoff and Congressman Ted Lieu”, said, Dr. Babak Kateb, Chairman of the Board and CEO of SBMT, President of BMF and Director of Brain Technology and Innovation Park (BTIP).
Three screenings of an award-winning documentary on epilepsy, Brainstorm, were aired at the SBMT World Congress, and discussions were held on the topic by leading experts Drs. Warren Boling (LLU) and Dawn Eliashiv (UCLA). The documentary was produced by Ms. Stacia Kalinowski who had documented her own struggle with epilepsy; this documentary was well received by epilepsy patients and their families and caregivers.
“SBMT is not only focused on advancing the science in the field but also insuring epilepsy patients access to the latest clinical trials and therapeutics available through our collaborating centers of excellence” Dr. Dawn Eliashiv, a member of the board of SBMT, Professor of Neurology and Co-director of the UCLA Seizure Disorder Center.
SBMT’s slogan is “breaking boundaries of science, medicine, technology, art, and healthcare policy”. This year, the foundation awarded many outstanding individuals including C. L. Max Nikias, USC President with Humanitarian Award for his global contributions to science, technology, art, and policy.
“I congratulate Dr. Max Nikias for this great honor, applaud and support amazing work done by the Brain Mapping Foundation including many of their initiatives” said Ming Hsieh, Founder and CEO of Fulgent Genetics, Inc., a member of the USC Board of Trustee and 2013 recipient of the BMF-SBMT Humanitarian award.
The 2018 award winners were: USC President Dr. C. L. Max Nikias, recipient of the Humanitarian Award; Dr. Jeremy Richman, recipient of the Beacon of Courage and Dedication Award; Nobel Laureate Dr. Eric Richard Kandel, Former UCI Vice Chancellor Dr. Howard Federoff and Dr. Jonathan Kipnis, recipients of the Pioneer in Medicine Award; US Congressman Ted W. Lieu, recipient of the Pioneer in Healthcare Policy Award; United Neuroscience Co-founder Lou Reese, United Neuroscience Co-Founder Mei Mei Hu, United Neuroscience Co-Founder Dr. Chang Yi Wang and Dr. Bahram Jalali, recipients of the Pioneer in Technology Award; Dr. Warren Boling, recipient of the Golden Axon Leadership Award; and Drs. Dong Song and Wonhye Lee, recipients of the Young Investigator Award.
“We continue to grow over the last 15 years and expand the outreach of the foundation beyond helping the wounded soldiers and veterans in order to impact soldiers, veterans and civilians with neurological disorders, spine disorders, and injuries, and they are critical to our mission,” said, Dr. Ken Green, Ret. US Navy Commander, Vice President of Brain Mapping Foundation, and a member of the executive board of SBMT.
The 2018 event was supported by: Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, NIH, NASA/International Space Station, United Neuroscience, Bedside Viewer, Institute for Nerve Medicine/ Neurography, French Telethon, Eisai Pharmaceutical, Carl Zeiss Meditec Inc, IBM Watson Health, Medtronic Inc, Stryker, Globus Medical, Siemens, AML-Hong Kong, Olympus, Ad-Tech, Ricoh, Marksman, Fulgent Genetics, Neural Analytics and many more biotech and startups.
2019 World Brain and Spine Mapping and Therapeutics will be held at the LA Convention Center along with the world’s first World BRAIN EXPO on March 15-17th 2019.
“2019 World Congress of Brain Mapping & Therapeutics will also include significant innovation in spine diagnostics and therapeutics” said, Dr. Jeffrey Wang, Co-director of USC Spine Center, Professor of Clinical Orthopedic Surgery and Neurosurgery (Clinical Scholar), and the 16th President of SBMT and a member of the Executive board of SBMT.
About SBMT:
About BMF:
www.BrainMappingFoundation.Org
Media Contacts:
Dr. Ken Green
Ken.Green@WorldBrainMapping.Org
202.577.5105
SOURCE Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics
