The inaugural Brain Trauma Blueprint (BTB) Action Summit was held on October 18-19, 2022 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington DC.

This event convened national stakeholder groups across government, academia, foundations, industry, and individuals with lived experience, to plan to execute the TBI Precision Research Roadmap, through collective public and private action.

Announcing the Brain Trauma Blueprint Action Coalition

CVB’s CEO & President Magali Haas, MD, PhD announced the development of the Brain Trauma Blueprint Action Coalition, a public-private partnership alliance optimizing the capabilities of industry, academia, government, and other stakeholders to take action on the TBI Roadmap recommendations.

The coalition will support and advance a coordinated approach to accelerate the development and adoption of new solutions for TBI. Initial Brain Trauma Blueprint Action Coalition members include the Brain Trauma Foundation, 22 Jumps, and the David R. Metcalf Invisible Wounds Foundation.

Beyond Hope to Action

Moderator:

Shannon Finn Connell, PhD, CEO, David R. Metcalf Invisible Wounds Foundation

Panel:

• Frank Larkin, Chair, Veterans Advisory Council, Cohen Veterans Bioscience
• Jamie Metcalf, Honorary Board Member, David R. Metcalf Invisible Wounds Foundation
• Tristan Wimmer, Founder, 22 Jumps

The Summit kicked off with an emotional start as Veterans and individuals touched by suicide highlighted how the negative impact of suicide ripples through families and communities. They emphasized why we need to move quickly to identify objective diagnostics and tailored treatments for TBI to help prevent suicide. Only by working together can we address this urgent need.

Keynote: The Warfighter Brain Health (WBH) Initiative

Kathy Lee, MS, CRNP, ANP-BC, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Readiness Policy and Oversight

Ms. Lee presented an exciting new Department of Defense strategy aimed at unifying efforts to optimize brain health for military personnel. This included a call for collaboration across multiple government departments and other stakeholders across the public and private sectors to develop and implement a comprehensive brain health research strategy focusing on finding solutions for the debilitating effects of brain trauma.

Keynote – Building upon NRAP: Working together to solve well-defined problems efficiently

Rachel Ramoni, D.M.D., Sc.D., Chief Research & Development Officer (CRADO), Department of Veterans Affairs

Ms. Ramoni made the case that we must recognize TBI as a public health emergency. She also highlighted how data sharing and collaboration are key to advancing solutions.

Brain Trauma Blueprint Roadmap Recommendations

Brain Trauma Blueprint Scientific Steering Committee experts provided a report on the state of the science in TBI research, an output of a collaborative effort focused on identifying paths forward in disease burden, preclinical research, biomarker development, phenotypes, clinical trials and implementation science. View Publications

Capital to Opportunity

Danish Munir, Founding Partner, GrayMatter Capital

“The time for change is now.” Mr. Munir discussed potential investment areas in mental health care and technology, highlighting the link between mental and physical health and opportunities to drive telehealth, AI and machine learning advancements. His presentation emphasized the important role that venture capital can play in turning new discoveries into solutions and the need to explore innovative funding models.