The CPRN leadership team held its first face-to-face meeting Sunday, March 13, 2016 in Chicago. We had been working virtually for more than a year via conference calls and email. The opportunity to spend nine hours together in the same room allowed us to make incredible progress working on the strategy and plans rolling out the Cerebral Palsy Research Network. In attendance at the meeting were:

• Amy Bailes, PhD, Physical Therapist from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital
• Mary Gannotti, PhD, Physical Therapist from the University of Hartford
• Paul Gross, CPRN, Founder from Seattle
• Jacob Kean, PhD, University of Utah Data Coordinating Center
• Unni Narayanan, MD, Orthopedic Surgeon from SickKids in Toronto
• Garey Noritz, MD, Developmental Pediatrician from Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus
• Jerry Oakes, MD, Neurosurgeon from Children’s Alabama in Birmingham
• Michele Shusterman, (via video conference), Patient Advocate from Greenville

Susan Horn, our PhD biostatistician from the University of Utah, was unable to join us.

The CPRN team spent the morning reviewing and finalizing the CPRN mission, vision, core values and strategic plan. The in-person meeting format was invaluable for achieving consensus on these critical elements to chart out course for the years to come. In the afternoon we discussed important operating procedures for data access and planning our quality and research agendas. And most importantly, we distributed our first team t-shirt! It was our first in person meeting of many to come we hope.