The Cerebral Palsy Research Network (CPRN) was initiated as an outcome of the November 2014 NIH Workshop entitled the State-of-the-Science and Treatment Decisions in Cerebral Palsy. CPRN co-founders Dr. Amy Bailes, Dr. Garey Noritz and Paul Gross were all in attendance at that meeting and involved in the task force that led the effort to plan a national CP registry that has resulted in CPRN. Another significant finding from that meeting was the need for more basic and translational research in cerebral palsy. As an organizer of the first workshop, Gross, a former National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke advisory council member, helped plan the agenda for the upcoming Workshop on Basic and Translational Research for Cerebral Palsy. CPRN participant Dr. Shenandoah “Dody” Robinson will be speaking about her work with stem cells and cerebral palsy. This topic was included because of significant patient advocacy interests expressed at the 2014 workshop.

The CP research workshop agenda builds on many topics that were discussed at the 2014 meeting including neuroplasticity, stem cells, neuroimaging and early detection. NIH encourages both scientists and patient advocates to attend this CP research workshop. The two day agenda includes speakers that are both basic and clinician scientists and provides significant opportunities for discussion and breakouts during the workshop. CPRN leadership will be in attendance and encourages centers with basic and translational research activities in CP to attend this meeting on March 24-25, 2016 at NIH. The NIH Workshop overview and registration links can be found here on the NIH Meeting site.