Congressman Capuano to Give Keynote at Military Symposium on Traumatic Brain Injury at Schepens Eye Research Institute

Capuano is long-time supporter of Vision and Brain Injury Research

BOSTON, Sept. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On September 27 at 2 p.m., Congressman Michael Capuano will address an audience of doctors and scientists from the military and the Schepens Eye Research Institute to praise them for and encourage them to continue collaborative efforts to find treatments and cures for brain and eye injuries sustained on the battlefield.

Capuano, whose speech will kick off a three-day symposium at Schepens Eye Research Institute, is a long-time supporter of funding for research to help servicemen and women that also translates into cures for blinding eye disease and brain injuries in civilians.

What:  Fourth Biennial Military Symposium on Ocular and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Where: Starr Center at Schepens Eye Research Institute at 20 Staniford Street, Boston, MA

When:  Capuano speaks at 2 p.m., September 27. Symposium is 9/26-29

Program: Complete program at www.schepens.harvard.edu/military_symposium

Warfare in the 21st century is making TBI epidemic among armed forces. IEDs (improvised explosive devices), combined with improved armor that keeps the body safe and the soldiers alive but does not adequately protect the head, are increasing the number of soldiers who return home with neurological damage and vision disorders. Since 2002  (just prior to the onset of the Iraq war),  Schepens Eye Research Institute has invited leading military medical experts to Boston to spend several days exploring solutions.

TBI can cause paralysis, vision loss, cognitive problems, and memory loss.  

This week's Symposium will focus primarily on Traumatic Eye and Brain Injury and will encompass a variety of other topics including laser and refractive surgery, regenerative and reconstructive medicine, eye protection, advanced technology applications, and wound healing with the goal to cure or treat these devastating injuries or increase the quality of life for victims. The Symposium will serve as a forum during which representatives of the military will identify their most pressing medical needs and scientists will present their most relevant research. Progress on previously articulated issues will also be addressed.

For the past 60 years, Schepens Eye Research Institute has been fighting blindness by developing new technologies, therapies and knowledge to retain and restore vision. Through a continuum of discovery, the Institute works toward a future in which blindness is prevented, alleviated, and, ultimately, cured.

Founded in 1950 by famed retinal surgeon Charles L. Schepens, M.D., Schepens Eye Research Institute is the largest independent eye research institute in the nation and an affiliate of Harvard Medical School.

SOURCE Schepens Eye Research Institute