New research into stroke prevention, treatment and recovery will be shared next week at the 31st Annual Scientific Meeting of the Stroke Society of Australasia 2022.
The conference will be held in the brand-new Te Pae Convention Centre in Christchurch and will unite stroke experts from around the world.
It is a major boon for those in attendance following a two-year hiatus where the event was held largely online due to COVID-19.
Stroke Society of Australasia (SSA) President Bernard Yan said the annual event provides an exciting opportunity to look at the innovations being made into stroke treatment and care.
“This will be the first full face-to-face SSA conference in the COVID era which is really exciting,” Professor Yan said.
“The theme for this year’s event is ‘Connections. Excellence. Equity.’ which reflects the reconnection of our clinicians, researchers, scientists, and consumers.
“Advancements are constantly happening in the treatment of stroke, and we must continue to challenge the norms and move forward with new research.”
It is estimated more than one in four people globally will have a stroke in their lifetime. Stroke is one of the biggest killers in New Zealand and Australia and is a leading cause of disability.
When a stroke occurs, more than 1.9 million brain cells die each minute, but prompt treatment can stop this damage.
The management of aphasia in regional and remote Queensland, psychosocial care within New Zealand Stroke Services, and the delivery of constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) via telehealth are
some of the topics which will be showcased at the conference.
International speakers include:
• Professor Bruce Ovbiagele, a vascular neurologist, clinical epidemiologist and health equity scholar at the University of California, he has a key focus on reducing the burden of stroke.
• Associate Professor Sook-Lei Liew, Director of the Neural Plasticity and Neurorehabilitation Laboratory at the University of Southern California.
• Associate Professor Marianne Klinke, an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Iceland and academic chair of research and development in Nursing within
Neurology and Neurorehabilitation at Landspitali University Hospital in Reykjavik.
The SSA conference will be held from August 31 to September 2. More than 300 people are expected to attend, while another 90 people will join the conference online. Visit the website
