NYU Langone, BIAA mark March as Brain Injury Awareness Month

Rehabilitation experts from NYU Langone Medical Center participated in several events in conjunction with the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) to mark March as Brain Injury Awareness Month. A world-leader in rehabilitation medicine and research, NYU Langone clinicians and researchers committed to reducing the incidence of injury and improving the lives of those living with brain injuries. As part of this awareness month they participated in a series of local and national events, including:

•March 21 - "Brain Injury Awareness Day on Capitol Hill." Rusk research and clinical experts joined members of BIAA, politicians, other medical experts and patient advocates in Washington, DC to discuss the state of brain injury in the U.S., new research and advances in care and rehabilitation.

•March 15-April 14 - "Whak'd… and then everything was different." Artist Eliette Markhbein, in collaboration with the Brain Injury Association of America and the Society for the Arts in Healthcare, will share her unique portraits of well-known survivors of TBI in an exhibit that kicks off a national tour at the NYU Langone Medical Center's MSB Gallery at 550 First Avenue in New York City. Learn more at http://www.biausa.org/tbi-portrait-project.htm

•March 28 - "Head Injuries and Concussion in Sports: What You Need to Know." Rusk's Dr. Flanagan will join several experts from NYU Langone Medical Center's Departments of Rehabilitation and Orthopaedic Surgery and the Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation Network for a discussion about prevention, identification and treatment of concussions in youth sports as well as new concussion legislation recently signed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. The panel will take place at 6:00PM in the Scarsdale High School Auditorium in Scarsdale, NY.

"It's important to continue to educate people - including health professionals - that brain injuries are not benign, singular events," said Steven R. Flanagan, MD, the Howard A. Rusk Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine and chair, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center. "With appropriate, comprehensive rehabilitation patients may fully recover from mild traumatic brain injuries such as concussion - and even patients with significant cognitive impact continue to improve - though often requiring additional therapy for much extended periods and sometimes for the rest of their life."