More than 200 people attended the 2026 Symposium on Unified Military & Veteran Multidisciplinary Innovation and Translation, or SUMMIT conference, at The Ohio State University. Held earlier this month, SUMMIT welcomed speakers from across the country who covered topics ranging from strategic deterrence to healthcare. In addition, nearly 55 researchers presented posters on topics like plastic and reconstructive surgery and opportunities for veteran farmers in Ohio.

Ohio State University has received a prestigious NIH T32 institutional training grant to launch Neuro‑RISE, a two‑year interdisciplinary program that prepares predoctoral researchers to advance treatments, technologies and rehabilitation strategies for people with traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury. Led by Ceren Yarar‑Fisher and Phil Popovich, the program strengthens the university’s neurotrauma research ecosystem by integrating expertise from CBIRD, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Neuroscience and the Belford Center for Spinal Cord Injury. Its goal is to train scientists who can bridge laboratory research, clinical practice and community needs, accelerating the translation of discoveries into meaningful improvements in patient recovery and long‑term quality of life.

The W.M. Keck Foundation has awarded $1.2 million to researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine to conduct novel spinal cord research. This project, led by Phillip Popovich, PhD, professor and chair of neuroscience at Ohio State, explores whether the spinal cord helps detect infection and direct the body's immune response. The work challenges the long-held view that the brain is the nervous system's main controller of immunity.