146th Annual Meeting of the American Neurological Association to Focus on Research and Development of Neurologic Disease Therapeutics

World's Leading Academic Neurologists and Neuroscientists to Present at ANA2021

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- This year's Virtual Annual Meeting, ANA2021 will welcome more than 1,000 academic neurologists and neuroscientists from around the world to share exciting research updates and best practices as they explore the latest research and developments in therapeutics related to inherited and acquired neurologic diseases. ANA2021 is the 146th Annual Meeting of the American Neurological Association (ANA).

As always, the Virtual Annual Meeting will offer scientific symposia highlighting cutting-edge research in neurology, Interactive Workshops that spotlight advances across the full spectrum of neurologic and neuroscience subspecialties, and Professional Development courses to help academic neurologists and neuroscientists at all career levels connect and excel. Attendees of the Virtual Annual Meeting will gain special access to the new fully virtual SIG Series sessions taking place in November and December, outside of the Annual Meeting program. 

"This year's meeting will offer an exciting exploration of the many advances in academic neuroscience and neurology that have been made this past year, in spite of operating under challenging conditions brought about by the pandemic," observed ANA2021 Scientific Program Advisory Committee Chair Conrad "Chris" Weihl, MD, PhD. "In addition to the education program, the meeting includes networking opportunities and E-poster presentations that are available for viewing throughout the duration of the virtual meeting."

This year's plenary sessions focus on bench to bedside developments in therapeutics related to inherited and acquired neurologic diseases. Topics include advances in the genetics, pathophysiology and therapeutics of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and epilepsy.

Nobel Laureate, Gregg Semenza, MD, PhD, will join a session focused on hypoxia in the CNS and how the molecular pathway, hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF1α), which he discovered, is a target for therapies in stroke and hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. The 2021 Presidential Symposium will explore the global and US impact of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic, including vaccine development and deployment, population impact and responses, and the neurological complications. Details of the contemporary understanding of neurobiological processes will be presented, as well as a review of the neurocognitive sequelae in COVID survivors. The meeting will kick off with a networking event for junior and early career attendees on Friday, October 15. The education program will commence on Saturday, October 16 with the Opening Symposium: Insights into the Genetic Underpinning and Treatment of Epilepsy.

An exciting addition to this year's program is the Poster Tour sessions, taking place Sunday, October 17 and Monday, October 18. Attendees will have the opportunity to view poster presentations given by hand-selected abstract submitters, featuring content grouped by topic and presented in a fast-paced format. The sessions will afford attendees the opportunity to submit questions to ask the presenters live during the session.

Young investigators will be highlighted in the popular Emerging Scholar Lecture Series sessions and Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Symposium.

The following are some of this year's Virtual Annual Meeting highlights:

Annual Meeting Plenary Sessions – Topics and Timing*

*Note: All session times are listed in Eastern Daylight Time.

Opening Symposium: Insights into the Genetic Underpinning and Treatment of Epilepsy
Date/Time: Saturday, October 16, 2021 - 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Chair: Frances E. Jensen, MD, FANA, FACP, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Co-Chair: M. Elizabeth Ross, MD, PhD, FANA, Weill Cornell Medicine

Presidential Symposium: COVID-19 Pandemic: Population Impact and Responses, and Neurological Complications
Date/Time: Sunday, October 17, 2021 - 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Chair: Justin C. McArthur, MBBS, MPH, FAAN, FANA, NAM, Johns Hopkins University
Co-Chair: Kiran Thakur, MD, Columbia University Irving Medical Center / New York Presbyterian Hospital

Advances in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Date/Time: Sunday, October 17, 2021 - 3:15 PM – 5:15 PM
Chair: Bryan Traynor, MD, PhD, FANA, National Institute on Aging
Co-Chair: Sabrina Paganoni, MD, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital

Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Symposium*
Date/Time: Monday, October 18, 2021 - 2:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Chair: Andrew Cole, MD, FANA, Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School
Co-Chair: Michael Geschwind, MD, PhD, FAAN, FANA, University of California, San Francisco

The Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Symposium is an opportunity for young researchers to share groundbreaking research in the field of Neurology and Neuroscience. This symposium will feature presentations from the 2021 Derek Denny-Brown awardees, the Wolfe Neuropathy Research Prize, the Grass Foundation-ANA Award in Neuroscience recipients and the new Audrey S. Penn Lectureship awardees.
* This session is not available for AMA PRA Category I Credit(s)™

Hypoxic/Anoxic Injury in the CNS
Date/Time: Tuesday, October 19, 2021 - 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Chair: Jennifer Frontera, MD, FANA New York University
Co-Chair: Marion Buckwalter, MD, PhD Stanford School of Medicine

Emerging Scholar Lecture Series
The Emerging Scholar Lecture Series is designed exclusively for junior and early career annual meeting attendees. These sessions will provide the opportunity for junior and early career members to present in front of a full virtual audience amongst their peer group.

Emerging Scholar Lecture Series 1 
Sunday, October 17, 2021 - 1:45 PM – 2:45 PM

Emerging Scholar Lecture Series 2
Monday, October 18, 2021 - 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Emerging Scholar Lecture Series 3
Tuesday, October 19, 2021 - 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM

Poster Tour Sessions
As an exciting addition to this year's program, select abstract submitters will be invited to participate in Poster Tour sessions, which will feature live Q&A and content grouped by topic and presented in a fast-paced format. Sessions will be held on:

Sunday, October 17th from 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM and 6:45 PM – 7:45 PM
Monday, October 18th from 5:15 PM – 6:15 PM and 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM

Note: All E-poster presentations are available for viewing throughout the duration of the meeting.

Poster tour topics include:

Follow the meeting for updates using #ANA2021 on Twitter @TheNewANA1, on Facebook @AmericanNeurologicalAssociation, or on Instagram @ananeurology.

ABOUT ANA2021
ANA2021 is the top meeting for academic neurologists and neuroscientists at every career stage to connect over groundbreaking research and best practices for success in the field. The reimagined program builds on the successes of last year's Virtual Annual Meeting. More than 1,000 participants are expected to attend the virtual meeting, which will take place from October 17-19, 2021, with an Opening Symposium on October 16th. Register for ANA2021 HERE. CME is available for eligible participants. The American Neurological Association is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The American Neurological Association designates this live activity for a maximum of  16.5 AMA PRA Category Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

A detailed Advance Program can be found HERE.

A special "Highlights of the Meeting" Media Roundtable will be held on Tuesday, October 19, from 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM.

ABOUT THE ANA
The American Neurological Association is a professional society of academic neurologists and neuroscientists devoted to advancing the goals of academic neurology; to training and educating neurologists and other physicians in the neurologic sciences; and to expanding both our understanding of diseases of the nervous system and our ability to treat them.

For more information, visit www.myana.org or follow @TheNewANA1 on Twitter, @AmericanNeurologicalAssociation on Facebook, @ananeurology on Instagram, or @American-Neurological-Association on LinkedIn.