Summer is finally here in our part of the world, which means that our 14th Annual Working 2 Walk Science and Advocacy Symposium is just around the corner (October 4-5 in Cleveland). While we continue our planning efforts to ensure this year's Symposium is the best yet, we're excited about how many of the details are coming together! Below are some recent developments to take note of ...
Speakers & Agenda. Our list of Speakers is up on our website. And our Agenda continues coming together and should be available in the first part of July, prior to the opening of registration. One thing to note are two themes we intend to focus on at this year's Symposium:
- We will feature various strategies for restoring function in the chronic Spinal Cord Injury, and also identify where those strategies are along the pipeline from discovery to clinical practice.
- We are going to ask the question: where along that pipeline can our community most effectively advocate? And propose some suggestions, highlight some models of success and initiate some cross-stakeholder conversations about strategies for achieving our shared goal of curative therapies.
Venue & Lodging. Our conference hotel is the Cleveland Marriott Downtown at Key Tower. We have arranged a limited block of rooms which are available to book at our group rate. Head to our Conference Hotel page to learn more and/or to book a room at our group rate. You can find plenty of travel-related info here as well, including transportation, parking and local attraction details on our Maps & Transportation page.
Sponsor the Symposium. We have a growing list of great sponsors that have signed on for our conference this year - but there's always room for more. Sponsors help us keep Working 2 Walk affordable, allow us to offer discounted registrations for folks with SCI, allow caregivers to attend at no cost, and offer an excellent opportunity to network with many of the stakeholders across the SCI landscape. You can find more information HERE or by downloading our Sponsor Packet & Agreement. If you have questions, please send an email to matthewrodreick@unite2fightparalysis.org.
Registration. We plan to open our online registration in mid-July. Watch this space for more details in the coming weeks.
We hope you’ll join us on October 4th-5th in Cleveland. Don't forget to tell your friends about this great opportunity, encourage them to sign up for our newsletter, and connect with us on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.
Check out the latest conversation from U2FP's CureCast Podcast - Episode #31. In this episode, Matthew and Kate talk with Kathy Allen and Sandra Mulder, the first two participants in the EStand Trial in Minnesota.
Kathy and Sandra (as well as Jered Chinook who participated in the Mayo Clinic’s Epidural Stimulation study) were invited to attend the American Spinal Injury Association Conference in April to share their personal experiences as part of a conversation facilitated by U2FP’s Executive Director, Matthew Rodreick. We thought it would be helpful to hear from them directly on the podcast.
We talk about their early experiences in the trial, where they are now, and what they continue to experience. It’s a nice follow up to the Episode #30 interview with Dr. David Darrow, the principal investigator of the EStand trial. If you haven’t listened to that one, check it out to fill more of the trial's backstory. As always, you can send your comments or suggestions to curecast@u2fp.org.
Join us!
Matthew Rodreick, Executive Director
U2FP
PS - We added another new monthly donor last week for a total of 9 new monthly donors so far! Help us continue to build a team, a community, a movement of people to find Cures for Spinal Cord Injury. Consider adding your name to the growing list of SCI Community members who are giving monthly to U2FP. Together, we can Fuel the Journey toward Cures for Spinal Cord Injury.
