Annual Seminar for Professionals

Cultivating Resilience in Brain Injury: Advancing Insight, Prevention and Rehabilitation

Wednesday, May 6, 2026
The Palace at Somerset Park, Somerset, NJ

BIANJ’s Annual Professional Seminar offers an educational and networking opportunity for professionals to gain knowledge of the latest research, best practices and effective strategies for working with individuals affected by brain injury. The knowledge level of the audience varies, including both new and experienced professionals.

The seminar is a full-day conference consisting of a keynote presentation followed by three workshop blocks with three presentations in each block. Lunch will be served and organization exhibitors and student poster presentations will also be included.

2026 Keynote Address

Unlocking Resilience: A New Hope for Well-being after Brain Injury

Dawn Neumann, PhD, FACRM

A brain injury (BI) can result in an array of sequelae that differ across individuals in terms of symptom type, severity, and persistence, as well as the degree of impact on daily functioning and participation. Across all treating disciplines, understanding modifiable risk factors that influence function is critical to informing necessary screening and post-injury care to optimize recovery. Recovery of symptoms after a BI, including concussion, is often influenced by resilience. As such, it is critical to identify factors that contribute to resilience. New research shows one such factor is alexithymia (impaired emotional insight). This keynote presentation will cover clinical characteristics of alexithymia, its relevance to resilience and outcomes after BI, and share evidence of a structured training program that targets alexithymia in people who have had a BI and its outcomes on resilience. Recognizing and treating alexithymia has the potential to improve outcomes from concussion to severe BI.

OBJECTIVES: At the conclusion of this workshop, participants should be able to

1. Discuss what alexithymia is and its clinical characteristics
2. Summarize alexithymia’s relevance to brain injury recovery and well-being
3. Describe evidence and core components of a training program for people with brain injury who have alexithymia.

Dawn Neumann, PhD, FACRM is a Research Scientist and Manager of Brain Injury Research at JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute. She has a PhD in Rehabilitation Science from SUNY Buffalo, NY and her MA in Psychology from Rutgers, NJ. Her research aims to advance the understanding and treatment of social cognition and emotion dysregulation deficits after traumatic brain injury. She serves on the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation editorial review board, and is an active member of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM), where she has been honored as Fellow for her contributions to the organization. She has received several awards for her research in brain injury from ACRM, including the Deborah Wilkerson Award, Mitchell Rosenthal Award, and the Joshua Cantor Scholar Award.

Past Seminars

2025: Enhancing Understanding Across the Brain Injury Spectrum

2024: Bridging the Disparity Gap: Improving Equity in Brain Injury Care and Prevention

2023: Uncovering the Invisible: Uncovering the Silent Epidemic of Brain Injury

2022: Building Community and Enhancing Quality of Life After Brain Injury

2021: Exploring and Navigating the Scope and Diversity of Brain Injury

2020: A 2020 Perspective: Improving TBI Outcomes in the Next Decade

2019: Moving Forward in Brain Injury: Evidence in Action

2018: Exploring Diverse Issues in Brain Injury

2017: Making New Connections Following Brain Injury

2016: Achieving Meaningful Outcomes