Vail, Colorado, Aug. 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Steadman Philippon Research Institute (SPRI) will play host to its third annual Vail Scientific Summit this week (August 23-26) and even its organizers marvel at the growth of the event in its first few years.

Over 60 of the top physicians, scientists, surgeons and researchers in the field of regenerative medicine will speak and present at the Summit.  That number is up from 46 in 2016 and roughly 30 in the inaugural event in 2015. The event will be held at the Vail Marriott Mountain Resort, beginning on Wednesday evening and concluding late Saturday afternoon.

“We are very excited to see the response to our event and the growth in numbers of both those presenting and those attending our Vail Scientific Summit,” said Dr. Johnny Huard, Chief Scientific Officer at SPRI, a speaker at the Summit and the founder of this event. “We have reached out to some of the best scientists and doctors in the world and have asked them to share their findings on aging and advancements in stem cell research. We also have some of the top orthopaedic surgeons in North America coming here to join our own world-class surgeons from The Steadman Clinic and lead discussions on new methods and techniques in their specialties.”

There will be five keynote speakers at the four-day event, each focusing on a different area of medicine and science.

James L. Kirkland, M.D., Ph.D., the director of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., will kick off the Summit on Wednesday evening.  One of the industry’s leading researchers on age-related issues, Dr. Kirkland’s keynote address will be titled “Senolytics, Chronic Disease and Aging.”

Thursday’s keynote speaker will be Holger Eltzschig, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center, McGovern Medical School in Houston and his presentation is entitled “The Hypoxia - Inflammation Link”. 

Friday’s lead speakers will include Paul D. Robbins, Ph.D., a Professor of Molecular Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in Jupiter, Fla., and Director of the TSRI Center on Aging with his presentation entitled “Clinically Relevant Approaches to Extend Health Span” and Giuseppe N. Colasurdo, M.D., President of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and the Alkek-Williams Distinguished Chair with a presentation entitled “The Future of Academic Medicine”.

The final keynote speaker on Saturday will be Dr. Gang Bao, Ph.D., the Foyt Family Chair Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at Rice University in Houston, Tex. He is the Director of the Nanomedicine Center for Nucleoprotein Machines at Rice, whose presentation title is “Engineering Multifunctional Nanoparticles for Disease Treatment”.

The orthopaedic surgery and biologic sessions will be led by a variety of top doctors from around the country and will also feature many of The Steadman Clinic’s and SPRI’s own surgeons and researchers:  Dr. Marc Philippon, Dr. Matthew Provencher, Dr. Peter Millett, Dr. Donald Corenman, Dr. David Karli, Dr. Robert LaPrade, Dr. Joel Matta, Dr. Raymond Kim, Dr. Tom Hackett, Dr. Thos Evans and Dr. Scott Tashman.

“SPRI’s Vail Scientific Summit is unique in the fact that we draw elite speakers from diverse fields of regenerative medicine and aging,” said Dan Drawbaugh, CEO of SPRI and The Steadman Clinic. “Our physicians provide world class patient care and perform groundbreaking research related to the Summit topics every day here in Vail, Colorado.  We are excited to share how these outstanding efforts and studies fit together.”

“We started this Summit upon Dr. Huard’s arrival in 2015 and cannot be happier with the way the event has expanded and developed over the last three years,” said Dr. Philippon, Co-Chair of SPRI and Managing Partner of The Steadman Clinic. “The panel of presenters reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ in the fields of aging, orthopaedic surgery and regenerative medicine. I look forward to joining the many doctors on stage this week and sharing our findings on the most recent developments in our practice and research.”

The schedule for the Summit can be found at the following link:  https://www.sprivail.org/events/vail-scientific-summit

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A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/22ede007-a614-4686-a3a1-3c7c4f8281dd

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f8a7934a-a1be-4eec-bca9-055b22c40260