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Texas FreshAIR tackles “grand challenges” in neuroscience

AUSTIN—The UT System’s brain health initiative – an effort to better understand, prevent, treat and cure devastating neurological diseases – will be showcased at the next Texas FreshAIR conference.

Texas FreshAIR (Academia Industry Roundtable), which connects academic researchers with industry partners, will be held Oct. 6-7 at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Austin. This year’s conference will focus on the latest developments in traumatic brain injury, neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and addiction.  

More than 70 speakers in both academia and industry will lead panel discussions and keynote addresses will be presented by:

  • Dan Johnston, Ph.D., director of the Institute for Neuroscience at UT Austin;

  • Patricio O’Donnell; M.D., Ph.D., head of psychiatry discovery research for the neuroscience and pain research unit at Pfizer;

  • Husseini Manji, M.D., global therapeutic head for neuroscience from Johnson & Johnson; and

  • Huda Zoghbi, M.D., professor at Baylor College of Medicine and founding director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital. 

Attendees will have numerous networking opportunities, including informal sessions in which academic researchers will meet one-on-one with industry executives to discuss potential opportunities for collaboration.

“Texas FreshAIR connects industry executives who are leading neuroscience drug development with academic thought leaders and researchers from UT institutions and other Texas institutions,” said Beena Koshy, Ph.D., UT System assistant vice chancellor for innovation and industry relations. “Texas FreshAIR wants to foster collaboration because it will be the key to making breakthroughs in neurological and psychiatric disorders.”

Disorders of the brain cost the United States an estimated $760 billion per year. In Texas alone more than 340,000 people suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and that number is expected to rise 17 percent by 2020.

It’s why Chancellor William H. McRaven has identified “Leading the Brain Health Revolution” as one of nine Quantum Leaps he wants the UT System and its institution to make over the next several years.

“There is a revolution taking place in brain health, and we are determined to play a leading role in it,” McRaven said. “But no one entity – not even a system composed of 14 world-class institutions – can be effective on its own. This brain health challenge is so big, so complex, and so important, meeting it will require nothing less than the brightest minds – from academia, government, and the private sector – working in concert.”

About The University of Texas System

Educating students, providing care for patients, conducting groundbreaking basic, applied and clinical research, and serving the needs of Texans and the nation for more than 130 years, The University of Texas System is one of the largest public university systems in the United States. With 14 institutions and an enrollment of more than 221,000, the UT System confers more than one-third of the state’s undergraduate degrees, educates almost two-thirds of the state’s health care professionals annually and accounts for almost 70 percent of all research funds awarded to public institutions in Texas. The UT System’s operating budget for FY 2017 is $17.9 billion, including $3 billion in sponsored programs funded by federal, state, local and private sources. With more than 20,000 faculty – including Nobel laureates and many members of the National Academies – and nearly 80,000 health care professionals, researchers, student advisors and support staff, the UT System is one of the largest employers in the state.

News Contact Information

Jenny LaCoste-Caputo: jcaputo@utsystem.edu  • 512-499-4361(direct) • 512-574-5777 (cell) 
Karen Adler: kadler@utsystem.edu  • 512-499-4360 (direct) • 210-912-8055 (cell)