School of Nursing and Midwifery

On the 16th March 2005 Jackie Parkes hosted an international, inter-disciplinary conference entitled ‘Recent Advances in Cerebral Palsy’ on behalf of the School of Nursing and Midwifery. Speakers (pictured above) included Dr John Jenkins (Consultant Neonatologist), Mr Aidan Cogrove (Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon), Dr Julie McClelland (Optometrist), Professor Helen Dolk (Epidemiologist) and Mrs Ann Madden (Research Associate, Sparcle). Two international guest speakers gave special presentations: Professor Inge Krageloh-Mann (Paediatric Neurologist, Germany) presented her world-leading clinical work on the relationship between MRI findings in children with cerebral palsy and clinical presentation; and Associate Professor Eva Beckung (Physiotherapist; Sweden) presented her leading international work on assessment of the upper limb function in children with cerebral palsy. The conference was very well attended and was actually over-subscribed.

The conference was also attended by Dr Henrietta Campbell, the Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland who launched the report “Children and young people with cerebral palsy in Northern Ireland (birth years 1977-1997)” by Jackie Parkes, Helen Dolk and Nan Hill. This report is the culmination of more than ten years surveillance work following every child born or resident in Northern Ireland with cerebral palsy. Copies of this report are downloadable below.