40th Annual Audrey K. Brown Kernicterus Symposium and APS / SPR Mary Ellen Avery Award

Monday, April 28, 2025

12:40pm – 1:55pm HST

Location: Convention Center: Kalākaua Ballroom A (Level 4)

CE: 1.5

Chair(s)

David Stevenson, MD (he/him/his)

Harold K Faber Professor of Pediatrics
Stanford University
Stanford, California, United States
JW

Jon Watchko, MD (he/him/his)

Professor Emeritus
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Sewickley, Pennsylvania, United States
Cynthia Bearer, MD, PhD (she/her/hers)

Professor of Pediatrics, Wm. & Lois Briggs Chair of Neonatology, Chief of Neonatology
Pediatrics
UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital/Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, Ohio, United States

Disclosure(s):

David K. Stevenson, MD: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Jon F. Watchko, MD: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Cynthia Bearer, MD, PhD: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

The annual symposium will explore possible mechanisms underlying the development of bilirubin-induced brain injury and highlight the clinical use of bilirubin-induced neurologic dysfunction (BIND) scoring to identify acute bilirubin encephalopathy and quantify its severity. This year’s program features two leading experts in the field. Dr. Cynthia F. Bearer will highlight a potential mechanism by which bilirubin exerts its neurotoxic effects, namely via its disruption of lipid rafts. Dr. Sanjiv B. Amin will review the use of the BIND score and its clinical utility in identifying neonates with intermediate to advanced stages of bilirubin encephalopathy. A better understanding of the mechanisms of bilirubin-induced brain injury and its diagnosis will improve clinical practice and reduce the incidence of kernicterus globally.

Learning Objectives:

Participants will be able to recognize the clinical signs of acute bilirubin encephalopathy (ABE) and impact on treatment decisions in neonates with significant hyperbilirubinemia.
Participants will be able to use BIND scoring to quantify ABE severity including those with intermediate to advanced stages of dysfunction that merit exchange transfusions
Participants will be able to describe the physiologic basis of bilirubin neurotoxicity in the neonate.

Presentations:

12:40pm – 12:45pm HST

Introduction of APS/SPR Mary Ellen Avery Neonatal Research Award
Speaker: Richard Martin, md – Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
12:45pm – 1:05pm HST

APS/SPR Mary Ellen Avery Neonatal Research Award Lecture: A Novel Mechanism for Bilirubin Neurotoxicity and a Potential Intervention
Speaker: Cynthia Bearer, MD, PhD (she/her/hers) – UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital/Case Western Reserve University
1:05pm – 1:30pm HST

Use of Bilirubin-induced Neurological Dysfunction Scoring in Late Preterm & Term Infants with Significant Hyperbilirubinemia
Speaker: Sanjiv B. Amin, MD, MS (he/him/his) – Children's Hospital of Michigan
1:30pm – 1:55pm HST

Q&A and Discussion