The Comprehensive Pediatric Epilepsy Center, in collaboration with Lurie Children’s Hospital and Corewell Health, presented the first Innovative Minds: Pediatric Research in Epilepsy Surgery (IMPRES) Conference held February 16-18 at the Hotel Van Zandt in downtown Austin.
The IMPRES program focused on evidence-based research on pediatric epilepsy surgery and highlighted collaboration between pediatric epilepsy centers and programs. The national conference featured six sessions and 25 presentations on topics including the process of identifying surgical patients, surgical techniques, medical and dietary management, and adult transition. Each session concluded with moderated panel discussions. Rick Boop, MD, emeritus chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, former chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and a member of the St. Jude Global Program, delivered the keynote lecture on the history of epilepsy surgery.
This year’s conference organizers were pediatric neurosciences faculty members Dave Clarke, MD, and Elizabeth Tyler-Kabara, MD, PhD; Sandi Lam, MD, MBA, of Lurie Children’s Hospital and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine; and Daniel Arndt, MD, of Corewell Health. Planning is now underway for the second IMPRES conference.
