-

The 52nd Annual Meeting of the Society for Research into Hydrocephalus and Spina Bifida (11-14 June 2009) was held at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island at the invitation of Drs John Duncan, Conrad Johanson and Gerald Silverberg

Members of the local organizing committee:

The Society would like to thank the organizers, especially Conrad and his wife, Nancy, for making the meeting such a success. Brown University was founded in 1764, one of the eight “Ivy League” Universities, and has an international reputation in teaching and research. The University lies on a hill overlooking the commercial centre of Providence and is a charming mix of 18th and 19th Century houses and a modern campus.

Scientific Programme Overview

The Conference dinner was held in the Federal Reserve, a former bank, in downtown Providence.

The topics in the scientific programme included sessions on Gene Expression, Basic Science, Early Hydrocephalus and Spina Bifida, Spina Bifida and Urology Development, Hydrocephalus and Spina Bifida, CSF Flow and Dynamics, Surgery and Infections, Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus and and Shunt function. The Society was also pleased to welcome two distinguished invited speakers. The Casey Holter Memorial Lecture was given by Professor Andrew Copp from University College London entitled “Genetics and Embryology of Neural Tube Defects” and Professor Barbara Stonestreet from Brown University gave a lecture entitled “Intraventricular Haemorrhage in Premature Infants”. The meeting closed with an invitation from Stephen Brown, Alan Bailie and Nan Hill to the 53rd Annual Scientific Meeting in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 24-27 June 2009.