The American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart Association, has expanded its International Stroke Conference with multiple pre-conference symposia in 2026. The meeting will take place in New Orleans from Feb. 4-6, 2026, and is a premier global event dedicated to advancing stroke and brain health science. The five pre-conference symposia, scheduled for Feb. 3, 2026, offer focused sessions on key areas of stroke care and research.
The State-of-the-Science Stroke Nursing Symposium will run from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CT, providing updates on nursing topics related to stroke care, including prevention, management, rehabilitation and program development. Presentations will cover the top 10 changes in the acute ischemic stroke 2025 guidelines that impact nursing, early palliative interventions to promote positive outcomes with acute stroke treatment, unifying stroke care, and connecting stroke survivors with the health care system.
The Brain Health Pre-Con Symposium, from 8:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CT, reflects the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's growing commitment to fostering science that supports optimal brain function across the lifespan. This new symposium will explore topics at the intersection of vascular neurology, cognitive neuroscience, aging and public health, including the heart-brain connection, post-stroke cognitive and mental health problems, and the use of AI to improve brain health.
The HEADS-UP (Health Equity and Actionable Disparities in Stroke: Understanding and Problem-solving) symposium, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. CT, is a multidisciplinary scientific forum focusing on race-ethnic disparities in cerebrovascular disease, reducing disparities in stroke, and accelerating translation of research to improve outcomes for race-ethnic minorities in the U.S. This is a collaborative initiative with the American Stroke Association and the National Institutes for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Details are available in the Program Planner.
The Stroke in Practice: Stroke Lagniappe (formerly Stroke in the Real World) symposium, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CT, highlights scientific advances in cerebrovascular disease while emphasizing their application in the real world. This year's topic addresses challenges in acute stroke management. The Experimental Stroke Science (formerly Stroke in the Lab World) symposium, also from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CT, focuses on promising new developments in the lab and their possible effects on future stroke treatment, including intracerebral hemorrhage immunology, subarachnoid hemorrhage, leukocytes, intracerebral hemorrhage pathophysiology, cerebral amyloid angiopathy and intraventricular hemorrhages.
Media interested in attending can register here. According to the American Heart Association's 2026 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics, stroke is now the #4 leading cause of death in the U.S. More information is available at stroke.org.
