Dr. Johnny Huard and his fellow organizers of The Steadman Philippon Research Institute’s (SPRI) third annual Vail Scientific Summit could finally sit back and take a deep breath following Saturday’s conclusion of another successful symposium at the Vail Marriott Mountain Resort.
Over 60 of the top physicians, scientists, surgeons and researchers in their field presented their latest findings at the Summit. The entire group of speakers and attendees took advantage of ample time between daily sessions to discuss topics with their colleagues and arrange for future collaboration in their related disciplines – all while also exploring the majestic scenery of Vail, Colo.
“We were so excited to see the response to our event and the growth in numbers of both those presenting and those attending our Vail Scientific Summit,” said Huard, Chief Scientific Officer at SPRI and the event’s founder in 2015. “We were able to bring together the very best scientists, researchers and clinicians and put them in the same room with many world-class orthopaedic surgeons. The feedback I have received so far is extremely positive and I am grateful that our third Summit was such a success.”
Below are the feelings of some of the Summit’s top speakers and leaders.
Dan Drawbaugh, CEO of SPRI and The Steadman Clinic: “The first night was really tremendous. I was sitting next to one of our major donors and he kept hitting me on the side of the leg and said, ‘Dan, look at this! This is the way a meeting is supposed to be run. Look at these scientists. Look at everyone here.’ It was rewarding for me to hear how excited he was with the opening program.”
Keynote speaker James L. Kirkland, MD, Ph.D., Director of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn: “There are a lot of perspectives here and there are a lot of interesting things that I know little about and need to learn more about. There are friends here that I work with and it is nice to be updated on their work. These types of meetings are always good places to develop long-lasting collaboration.”
Keynote speaker Paul D. Robbins, Ph.D., Professor of Molecular Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in Jupiter, Fla., and Director of the TSRI Center on Aging: “One of the primary focuses of this Summit has been on aging. Johnny (Huard) as the organizer has realized that aging is a focal point on almost everything that we as scientists and researchers are working on. I appreciated all the input from the speakers on the aging questions that we face and the new ideas borne out of our research. Luckily, I am already collaborating with many of the people at the symposium and those that are not will probably leave here and find themselves collaborating with many new colleagues.”
Richard Lieber, Ph.D., Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University: “Johnny (Huard) is the reason why we’re all here. When he moved here it signaled to the scientific community that Vail was very serious about doing science in the context of sports medicine. When we all saw his move, we all perked our ears up and said ‘Hey, what’s happening?’ He has been in the field for 20-plus years. He knows the people and they know him. When he said ‘I want to do a regenerative medicine conference in Vail,’ we all knew that it would be the kind of meeting we would all want to go to. Johnny superimposes his personality on this meeting and that really adds that little bit of extra flair that all good meetings and conferences need.”
Peter Millett, MD, MSc, Shoulder, Knee and Elbow Specialist, The Steadman Clinic: “I think the Scientific Summit is really a great forum for bringing together clinicians who are treating patients every day with scientists who are discovering the next treatments for our patients. Day-to-day we don’t get to interact and this Summit really creates a forum and a venue where we can come together. I can share with my colleagues who are researchers and scientists the challenges that I face with patients and what the unsolved problems are. Hopefully they will use that and develop new and dynamic solutions. I can also learn from them where there might be innovations and techniques that we can translate to clinical medicine right now.”
Joel Matta, MD, Hip and Pelvic Reconstruction, The Steadman Clinic: “At this Scientific Summit I’m hearing many talks on subjects I’m not directly involved in on a daily basis -- the basic science of the connective tissue, the cartilage, the basic muscle and bones. I work all the time from a surgical point of view and I solve practical problems for patients. I think as I discuss more and more with the basic science researchers as I have during this conference, we are going to find very useful ways to collaborate and move the subject forward.”
Dr. Bill Moreau, Managing Director, United States Olympic Committee Sports Medicine Division: “The Vail Scientific Summit is an amazing opportunity to be able to hear literally the people who are the experts in the world about regenerative medicine. For us at the United States Olympic Committee to have that opportunity to learn where those little niches and spots in medicine are that we might be able to apply to Team USA’s athletes to preserve and protect their health is really immeasurable.”
Laura Niedernhofer, MD., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Molecular Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute (TRSI) in Jupiter, Fla.: “Aging is very complicated and there is no one scientist that can master that big of a problem. It’s great to meet face-to-face with doctors and surgeons that are dealing with bone, muscle or cartilage, all of which are affected by aging. This summit has been really valuable to me because I have met people and colleagues that will change the way I do research.”
John Cooke, MD, Ph.D., Distinguished Chair of Cardiovascular Research, Houston Methodist Research Institute: “This has been a spectacular meeting for me. What Johnny Huard and his organizers have done is to have brought together people from different disciplines who have different perspectives. Everyone has a different approach and that is important because aging is multi-factorial. For us to overcome this problem, we need to work together as a community. Much thanks to Dr. Huard and his people for bringing us all together as we have a community now who is going to work together to solve these problems of aging.”
Farshid Guilak, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Orthopaedics, Washington University (St. Louis): “This is a conference I look forward to every year. It’s such an exciting meeting because we have such a mix of different people here. We have scientists from all fields and we also have clinicians, researchers and orthopaedic surgeons including some of the top in the world from right here at The Steadman Clinic. We also have people who are not scientists — business people, entrepreneurs, investors. We have such an exciting mix of people bringing discussions to this topic but with their own perspective.”
Attachments:
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/fbef09fc-4ee4-4ec5-8927-1693def9439f