The 1st Regional Transverse Myelitis Clinical Care Symposium was hosted by The Johns Hopkins Transverse Myelitis Center (JHTMC) on June 15th, 2013 at the Bloomberg Children’s Center of the Johns Hopkins Hospital. More than 90 patients, family members, and caregivers impacted by the diagnosis of Transverse Myelitis (TM) and other rare neuroimmune disorders on a day-to-day basis attended the education program. Faculty and staff from the JHTMC and the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury at the Kennedy Krieger Institute discussed issues commonly confronted by patients such as pain, spasticity, weakness, depression, bowel and bladder dysfunction. The latest trends in management of these issues, rehabilitation strategies, and new research developments in TM were also discussed. The education program closed with open Q & A with the experts on a panel.

Maureen Mealy, RN, BSN, MSCN, CNRN, Clinical Program Manager and Senior Research Nurse at the Johns Hopkins Transverse Myelitis & Multiple Sclerosis Centers moderated the education program. The program was supported by the Bart A. McLean Research Fund, Johns Hopkins Project RESTORE and The Siegel Rare Neuroimmune Association.