President's Message - Jan 2026

Dear Colleagues,

Happy New Year! I hope this message finds you well and energized for what promises to be an exciting and productive year for our Society.

I am delighted to remind you that our PNIRS Annual Meeting will take place June 22-25, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana. We are thrilled to announce an outstanding lineup for the Presidential Symposium, with confirmed speakers including Dr. Saul Villeda, whose work explores how systemic and immune factors shape brain aging and cognitive function; Dr. Ozioma Okonkwo, a leader in Alzheimer’s disease research with a focus on neuroimaging, metabolic health, and risk disparities, and Dr. Moises Bauer, whose research examines neuroimmune mechanisms underlying stress, mood disorders, and brain-body interactions. An exciting educational short course program will be announced soon, along with additional details about member-sponsored symposia and invited speakers. I sincerely hope you will all join us for what is shaping up to be a scientifically exciting, and as always, fun meeting.

The conference hotel rate is very competitively priced at $206+tax (for double queen-sized beds), and I encourage you to take advantage of this excellent value. Abstract submission and meeting registration will open in mid-February, so please stay tuned for additional details.

As a reminder, now is also a great time to renew your PNIRS membership, which provides a reduced registration rate for the annual meeting. We remain committed to global inclusion and are pleased to offer significantly reduced dues for members from low-middle income countries ($120 for regular membership and $45 for trainee membership).

I am also very pleased to share exciting news from our PNIRS Ibero-America initiative. The PNIRS Ibero-America team, led by Dr. Elisa Caetano-Silva, has secured funding for its 4th annual internation symposium. Notably, this will be the first fully independent international meeting of the PNIRS Ibero-America initiative. The symposium is funded by the Minas Gervais Research Foundation and will take place April 13-16, 2026 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. You can follow @4thpnirs.iberoamerica on Instagram for conference updates. Congratulations to the entire team on this important milestone!

Our PNIRS Asia-Pacific initiative has also had a tremendously successful year, hosting symposia in Taiwan and Vietnam with the first cohort of PNIRS Asia-Pacific Scholars, a new travel award generously supported by Dr. Keith Kelley, a visionary and trailblazing leader who has guided and championed this initiative since its inception in 2012 and helped grow it into the vibrant, impactful program it is today! This year’s scholar award recipients are Dr. Leah Pyter, Dr. Adrienne Antonson, Dr. Marie-Eve Tremblay, and Dr. Jacob Allen. Congratulations to all of you!

I am equally excited to highlight the spectacular Spring lineup for PNIRS Presents, our free virtual symposium series.

• On February 10, Dr. Dorian McGavern will present “Immunological Defense on Dynamic Vascular Barriers in the CNS”, featuring jaw-dropping intravital two-photon imaging that reveals how immune cells patrol, protect, and potentially damage the central nervous system. This is a talk you will not want to miss.
• On March 31, Dr. Neil Harrison and Dr. Eve Perich Tomas will discuss their innovative work using IFN-beta dosing in humans to model neuroinflammation for use in researching neuroimmune mechanisms in psychiatric disorders.
• On April 28, Dr. Martin Picard will speak on mitochondria, and the central role they play in brain health and disease. Mark your calendars!

Finally, I invite you to consider making a donation to PNIRS. In particular, a gift of $12,000 would establish a Named Travel Award, providing a meaningful and lasting way to support our outstanding trainees in attending the annual meeting.

I look forward to seeing many of you in New Orleans this June.

Warmest regards,
Ruth Barrientos