AAN to Mark 75th Anniversary at 2023 Annual Meeting

From April 22-27, Boston and its convention and exhibit center will play host to the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) annual meeting, which is being presented in a hybrid format this year and at which the AAN will mark its 75th anniversary on Sunday, April 23, with a celebration at the Museum of Science.

More than 14,000 professional registrants and exhibitors participating in Boston and live online are expected from all over the world—among them, neurologists, neuroscientists, and trainees ranging from high school students to postdoctoral researchers—for the 400-plus scientific platform presentations that will take place and the more than 2600 abstracts and 2000 posters that will be presented.

“The AAN has always been one of my favorite meetings to go to,” said David C. Spencer, MD, FAAN, director of the epilepsy program at Oregon Health & Science University. “I think people correctly think about it as being the premier place to go for cutting-edge research and hearing about what's hot off the press in neurology. It's an opportunity to learn about things that I don't see every day, and the quality of the programming for education is really, really high.”

Spencer’s abstract, “First-in-Human Trial of NRTX-1001 GABAergic Interneuron Cell Therapy for Treatment of Focal Epilepsy - Emerging Clinical Trial Results,” was 1 of 3 abstracts—and the only embargoed content—highlighted in the AAN Annual Meeting Top Science Press Conference held last week. The other abstracts were “Serum and Cerebrospinal Fluid Antibody Signatures Track With Outcome of Neurologic Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-Cov-2 Infection (NeuroPASC),” from Marianna Spatola, MD, PhD, Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard Medical School, and “CE-VST01-JC: a Novel Allogeneic T-cell Based Immunotherapy for the Treatment of Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML),” from George Ambalathingal, PhD, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Queensland, Australia.

“Quintessential neuroscience for the 21st century is the theme that binds the 3 papers together,” said Natalia S. Rost, MD, MPH, FAHA, FAAN, chief of the stroke division at Mass General, professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, and chair of the AAN Science Committee, who picked these presentations for the press conference. “And what makes it quintessential for these 3 papers is the cutting-edge innovation at the core of each of these studies, a dedicated pursuit of the neurological disease mechanisms demonstrated in them, their advanced methodology used, and their overarching objective to improve health and alleviate suffering for patients with neurological disorders.”

Among the topics being addressed at the conference are Huntington disease, central nervous system toxicities, multiple sclerosis (MS), and preventing acute stroke on day 1; pediatric epilepsy, neurologic conditions in transgender patients, stiff person syndrome, and dementia on day 2; neuro-ophthalmology, mitigating bias in residency, neurologic complications of HIV, health care equity, and neuroepidemiology on day 3; pregnancy and breastfeeding in MS, sports neurology, sleep apnea, and immunomodulation on day 4; motor neuron disease, Parkinson disease, drug pricing, and inherited neuropathies on day 5; and nutrition and neurologic disease, mitochondrial disorders, neuro-rheumatology, and behavioral neurology on day 6.

In addition, there will be a keynote address, “The Five Clinician Educators You Meet In Heaven,” delivered by Zachary N. London, MD, FAAN, of the University of Michigan, and 7 plenary sessions, with 2 on April 22 and 1 each remaining day, followed by fireside chats in the Research Hub.

Keep up with our video and written coverage at ajmc.com/conference/aan.