2026 Conference
Crossroads in Traumatic Brain Injury

Professor David Brody, Ph.D.

David L. Brody is Professor of Neurology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, the U.S. military medical school in Bethesda, Maryland. He is an MD, PhD–trained, board-certified neurologist with clinical and research specialization in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and neurodegenerative diseases. Clinically, he treats patients with traumatic brain injury, anomalous health incidents, and related neurological conditions at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. He serves as Chief Science Officer and Chief Innovations Officer of the Military Traumatic Brain Injury Initiative (formerly the Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine), where he leads three randomized controlled trials of candidate therapeutics for military-relevant TBI and develops new technologies for prolonged field care. He also directs a laboratory focused on advancing molecular contrast brain imaging methods. Dr. Brody earned his undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from Stanford University, where he was also a varsity fencer. He completed the Medical Scientist Training Program at The Johns Hopkins University, receiving both an MD and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering. He went on to complete an Internal Medicine internship and Neurology residency at Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University in St. Louis, and later served on the Washington University faculty as an Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Full Professor until 2017, when he joined USU. He has served as principal investigator or co–principal investigator on awards from NINDS, the Defense Medical Research and Development Program, the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program, United States Special Operations Command, DARPA, Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, National Football League Charities, and the BrightFocus Foundation, among others. He is the recipient of a Burroughs Wellcome Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences and an NINDS K08 Career Development Award, and he serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neurotrauma.

Mr. Ray Ciancaglini

Ray Ciancaglini, a native of Geneva, New York, is a former professional boxer, award-winning concussion awareness activist, and established keynote speaker. His personal story has been featured nationally by ABC News and has earned both the New York Associated Press Award and the New York News Publishers Award. He played a key role in the passage of the New York State Concussion Management Awareness Act, for which he received the New York Executive Chamber Award and the Rochester Hickok Hero Award, and was also instrumental in the enactment of the Professional Boxing Safety Act. Inspired by hearing Ciancaglini speak at the New York State Brain Injury Association annual conference in Albany, his friend Andy Siegel authored Second Impact: The Ray Ciancaglini Story, which became an Amazon number-one new release for several weeks. Ciancaglini founded the Second Impact Concussion Awareness Program, traveling nationwide—free of charge—to universities and medical seminars to educate athletes about the serious consequences of improperly managed concussions; the program is endorsed by the New York State Athletic Trainers’ Association. A member of both the Rochester, NY Boxing Hall of Fame and the Geneva, NY Sports Hall of Fame, Ciancaglini’s boxing career (1966–1974) included honors such as the Golden Gloves Heart Award and the Jerry Flynn Courage Award. He has also received the Brain Injury Association of New York State Public Policy Award, the Camp Good Days Courage Award, the Rotary Club Paul Harris and Avenues of Service Award, the Catholic Charities Shining the Light Award, and honorary recognitions from the Geneva Firefighters Association and Geneva Police Benevolent Association. He currently serves on the board of the Child Advocacy Center of the Finger Lakes. As a result of numerous untreated concussions sustained during his boxing career, he has been living for years with Parkinson’s syndrome and dementia pugilistica (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) and participates in CTE research studies at Boston University, where he has pledged to donate his brain for research. He continues to speak at traumatic brain injury centers, children’s special needs facilities, and to athletic teams and organizations, emphasizing resilience, character, and the importance of addressing concussions properly—finding his greatest reward in knowing he is making a meaningful difference in the lives of athletes, first responders, and survivors of brain injury.

Professor Tara Alvarez, Ph.D.

Tara Alvarez, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director and Founder of the Vision and Neural Engineering Laboratory. After her Ph.D. (BME, Rutgers) and research at Bell Labs (1998 -2001), she helped found NJIT’s BME Department in 2001. She is a fellow of AIMBE, AAO, and NAI. Her laboratory seeks to understand fundamental mechanisms of vision therapy. She is the principal investigator of the NIH-funded randomized controlled trial examining the effectiveness of visual rehabilitation and the brain's neuroplasticity, resulting in reductions in visual symptoms and improvements in visual function. The seminar will present clinical, objective eye- movement data and functional imaging to answer the following questions. Once a patient aged 11 to 25 years of age is symptomatic between one and six months post their most recent concussion, is it more effective to prescribe 12 one-hour sessions of office-based vergence and accommodative therapy with movement (OBVAM) over six weeks or use watchful waiting, which is the more common practice? Second, is there a difference in effectiveness comparing 12 to 16 OBVAM sessions? Third, is there a difference if OBVAM is delayed by an additional six weeks? Last, what is the underlying neural mechanism by which the brain is changing because of OBVAM? Basic principles of functional MRI imaging will be explained with our experimental protocol and how the patients’ imaging datasets change after OBVAM. In the long term, our research is helping establish best practices, and we are exploring new methods to leverage technology that have the potential to advance personalized medicine.