Enabling Communication in Patients with Severe Nervous System Dysfunction

The ability to communicate with other people is fundamental to healthy human existence. This ability is taken for granted by most humans, but it is by no means guaranteed. Patients with illnesses such as ALS may lose the ability to communicate with caregivers or family as the disease progresses. In other cases, patients with severe brain injury may experience a condition known as Cognitive Motor Dissociation in which they appear unresponsive to commands or other inputs while they in fact maintain awareness. This panel will discuss such disorders and emerging technology development that hold promise for mitigating the lost ability to communicate by such patients.

Moderator

Brian Edlow, MD,

Vice Chair of Research, Department of Neurology, Mass General Brigham;

Associate Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School

Speakers

Noah Bartsch,

EVP, Clinical & Regulatory Affairs, Paradromics

Leigh Hochberg, MD, PhD

Director of Neurotechnology and Neurorecovery, Massachusetts General Hospital;

Senior Lecturer on Neurology, Harvard Medical School

Daniela Lamas, MD,

Pulmonary and Critical Care Physician, Brigham and Women’s Hospital;

Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Bruce Rosen, MD, PhD,

Director, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Mass General Brigham;

Laurence Lamson Robbins Professor of Radiology, Harvard Medical School