The Academy was represented at an international conference on trauma held in Egypt. The International Conference on Recent Advances in Neurotraumatology (ICRAN) was attended by doctors from 18 countries and 5 continents. The main meeting venue was Aswan, Egypt. Among the various distinguished speakers was Dr. Thomas Pentelenyi, a trauma specialist of international renown.

Dr. Pentelenyi is from the National Institute of Traumatology in Budapest, Hungary. He has worked on various projects and conferences with members of the Academy Council of the AASP over the years. His area of special expertise is that of injury to the spine and its contents. His presentations at ICRAN 2004 focused on the diagnosis and management of spinal injuries. Dr. Pentelenyi said that he is supportive of the goals of the AASP relative to prevention and treatment of spine injuries.