Is Brain Injury a Chronic Disease? A Keynote Preview with Dr. Ross Zafonte for ISPRM 2026

As the global rehabilitation community gears up for the ISPRM 2026 World Congress in Vancouver, the conversation is already shifting toward groundbreaking new paradigms. In an exclusive preview interview, Dr. Muhammad Tawab Khalil, Co-chair of the ISPRM Communications Committee, sat down with one of the event’s most anticipated figures: keynote lecturer Dr. Ross Zafonte.

Dr. Zafonte, a world-renowned authority in the field and author of the seminal text Brain Injury Medicine: Principles and Practice, is set to deliver a lecture that promises to be “a little provocative”. His talk poses a fundamental question that challenges the traditional acute-care model: “Is brain injury a chronic disease?”.

A Paradigm Shift in Rehabilitation

Historically, the medical community often viewed brain injury as a singular event where, after the acute phase, patients “either stay the same or get better”. However, Dr. Zafonte argues that this view is incomplete. During the interview, he highlighted that brain injury may be an event that produces “lifelong risk factors” requiring management over decades, not just months.

This shift in perspective suggests that brain injury acts more like a systemic syndrome than an isolated neurological event. Dr. Zafonte points to emerging data showing impacts across multiple domain areas, including neurodegenerative decline, cardiovascular health, neuroendocrine function, and even an elevated risk of brain cancer. “It disrupts the way we consider this in many ways,” Zafonte told Dr. Tawab.

Why You Cannot Miss Vancouver

The implications of this research are profound for PRM professionals. If TBI is a chronic condition, how does that change our approach to follow-up care? How do we essentially plan for a “life with brain injury”?. Dr. Zafonte notes that when looking at time-to-event curves, many of these comorbidities “take off very quickly,” necessitating earlier evaluation and intervention than previously thought.

This keynote address will not only present declarative data on these risks but will also explore the mechanisms—likely multifactorial—producing them.

Join us in Vancouver from May 17th to 21st, 2026, to hear Dr. Zafonte’s full analysis and be part of this critical conversation. As Dr. Tawab noted in his interview, this is a lecture that will “shake the way we actually think about brain injury medicine”.

Don’t miss the opportunity to learn from the experts leading the future of our field.