Addressing neurological problems: The final frontier
Dear Congress Visitors
The brain has often been called the final frontier in medical research. From the intricacies of neural networks to the blood brain barrier, it still contains so many unknowns. Neurological disorders affect the body’s autonomic, peripheral and central nervous system and include diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, migraines, and so many others. Especially concerning are the number of new and prolonged psychological disorders that have emerged during COVID-19 as a result of COVID-19 isolation, lost diagnoses, missing treatment, and unfortunately lost research time. It is time to make up for this lost time ! Our patients need and deserve it !
As we continue to emerge from COVID-19, we need to take advantage of every conference possible to push our field ahead. While COVID-19 kept us from interacting with one another to develop solutions in neurology, that time has stopped and we need to double-down and make up for lost time. Even though we could not meet over the past several years, healthcare problems in neurology continued and even grew, and the statistics are as alarming as ever. For example, in 2019, it was estimated that neurological disorders accounted for a total of 7.5 million years lost due to premature death and a total of 8.2 million years that people have lived with neurological disabilities (Burden of Neurological Conditions, www.PAHO.org, accessed Sept. 22, 2022). And the statistics are getting even worse due to lost diagnostic, treatment, and research time that occurred during COVID-19.
So, come to Baltimore, The Charm City, where the research will motivate you to finally develop approaches to treat diseases from the final frontier of medicine – the Brain. Don’t simply just be a part of the future, help create it