Military, Professional and Youth Sports Brain Injury Experts to Discuss Program Integration at VIP Dinner

NEW YORK, NY – Experts in the field of neuroscience will discuss the integration of Military, Professional Sports and Youth Sports programs to better prevent, identify and treat brain injuries during a special moderated dinner discussion at the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation’s Annual Angel Awards banquet, the organization announced today.

The SJBF also announced that 100 percent of the donations received from the American PABI Heroes Concert, which will be held after the Angel Awards Reception, as well as all of the online donations made during its live webcast will be donated to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund (which is building the National Intrepid Center of Excellence for Traumatic Brain Injury in Bethesda, MD). All of these events will be held at Webster Hall in New York City on Tuesday, November 17 and will be open to the media.

The Host Committee Dinner Dialogue Discussion will feature:

  • Dr. David Hovda, Director the UCLA Brain Injury Research Center who is advising the Pentagon on brain injuries
  • Dr. Thom Mayer, Chairman of Best Practices and Medical Director for the NFL Players Association*
  • Dr. Gerard Gioia, Chief, Division of Pediatric Neuropsychology, Director, Safe Concussion Outcome, Recovery & Education (SCORE) Program at Children’s National Medical Center
  • Mr. Chris Nowinksi, President and CEO of the Sports Legacy Institute

    The Discussion will be moderated by:

  • Dr. Daniel Perl, Director of the Neuropathology Division at Mount Sinai School of Medicine

    Ten bands who were selected this spring as semi-finalists from around the country (see list below) will compete during the day to become the “American PABI Hero.”

    Immediately following the Annual Angel Awards Reception, Webster Hall will be opened up for a concert performance by all the semi-finalists, with 100 percent of the ticket sales being donated to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. The concert will be webcast live and all of the online donations made during the day will also be donated to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.

    Details of American PABI Heroes Grand Finale, Concert and Annual Angel Awards Reception and Dinner:

    Tuesday, November 17, 2009, at Webster Hall, 125 East 11th Street, New York City
    11:00 am – 3:00 pm American PABI Heroes Grand Finale (closed to the public, open to the media)
    6:00 pm – 8:00 pm Annual Angels Awards Reception (open to the public and media)
    General tickets: $150 per person / VIP tickets: $1,000 pp

    8:00 pm – 10:00 pm Host Committee Dinner Dialogue Discussion about the Integration of Military, Professional and Youth Sports programs for the prevention, identification and treatment of brain injuries (open to the public and media)
    Host Committee Levels: $2,500; $5,000; $10,000; $25,000 and $50,000

    8:00 pm – 12:00 am American PABI Heroes Concert for The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund (open to the public and media)
    Concert tickets: $15 pp (100% donated to Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund)

    List of bands competing and the cities they are from:
    Boston, MA: Slow Century
    New York, NY: April’s End
    Raleigh, NC: The Wayves
    Raleigh, NC: Sights of Sound
    Miami, FL: The Nicole Patrick Band
    Columbus, OH: OfHuman
    Chicago, IL: ZC Flawless Drumline
    Dallas, TX: Lately
    Denver, CO: J. Co
    Los Angeles, CA: Me & Heath

    Recording artist and voice of Barbie, Kristy Kay, will be serving as the Masters of Ceremony for the American PABI Heroes Grand Finale.

    For media inquiries, please contact the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation’s Communications Director, Jennipher Dickens at (212) 576-1180 or Jennipher@TheBrainProject.org.

    For ticket sales, Host Committee tickets and donor sponsorship opportunities, please contact the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation’s Director of Development, Jessica York at (212) 576-1180 or Jessica@TheBrainProject.org.

    * Tentative

    About the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation:

    The Sarah Jane Brain Foundation (SJBF) is named after 4-year-old Sarah Jane Donohue who was violently shaken by her baby nurse when she was just 5 days old, breaking four ribs, both collarbones and causing a severe brain injury. It was founded by Sarah Jane’s father, Patrick, in 2007, and has quickly galvanized the pediatric acquired brain injury (PABI) community into action. PABI is the #1 cause of death and disability for children and young adults up to 25 years of age, with over 3 million new brain injuries each year in the U.S. alone, and is caused by traumatic (motor vehicle incidents, sports concussions, blast injury from war, child abuse) and non-traumatic (brain tumors, strokes, meningitis, epilepsy) events. The National Advisory Board of the SJBF (comprised of the leading PABI experts from around the world) created the National PABI Plan which develops a seamless, standardized, evidence-based system of care, universally accessible for all PABI families regardless of where they live in the country. In June 2009, the SJBF announced the largest healthcare collaboration in U.S. history dealing with PABI. In August 2009, the SJBF announced a $930 million, multi-department grant proposal (the largest grant proposal in U.S. history dealing with PABI). In October 2009, the SJBF announced the “PABI Act of 2009” was introduced into Congress as a concurrent resolution. For more information please visit www.TheBrainProject.org.

    About the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund:

    The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund was established in 2000 to provide financial support for the dependents of United States military personnel lost in performance of their duty. Originally operated as a program of the Intrepid Museum Foundation in New York City, the Fund was established as an independent not-for-profit organization in 2003. Through 2005, the Fund provided close to $20 million to families of United States military personnel lost in performance of their duty, mostly in service in Iraq and Afghanistan. In January 2007 after only 16 months of fundraising and with the generous support of over 600,000 Americans, the Fund completed construction of the Center for the Intrepid, a $55 million world-class state-of-the-art physical rehabilitation center at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. This Center serves military personnel who have been catastrophically disabled in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and veterans severely injured in other operations and in the normal performance of their duty. In June 2008, ground was broken on the Fund’s current project, the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE). For more information please visit www.FallenHeroesFund.org.

    About the American PABI Heroes Grand Finale:

    The American PABI Heroes Grand Finale is the culminating event of a cross country effort (The American PABI Heroes Tour) to find local bands whose talent is matched only by their amazing philanthropic spirit. Each band has been matched with a local family in their area who has a child affected by pediatric acquired brain injury (PABI) and together they will raise awareness of PABI and carry the mission of the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation throughout their efforts. For more information please visit www.pabitour.com.