SYMPOSIUM

UAB Hosts National Symposium On Motor Vehicle Crash Injury Prevention

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) unveiled a project designed to evaluate the physical consequences of car crashes on children at various stages of development. The researchers are part of the Southern Consortium for Injury Biomechanics (SCIB), a component of the UAB Injury Control Research Center (ICRC). They are working with colleagues at Wayne State University in Detroit to develop complex computer-generated Digital Child models. Wayne State is supplying UAB with data from real car crashes to develop and refine the models. Once the models are finalized, scientists at UAB will test the outcomes of traumatic impact. Scientists hope the results of this study will lead to the development of improved safety devices for child passengers.

“The impact of rapid deceleration, like that experienced in a car crash, has a different effect on children’s bodies, which are not yet fully formed, than it does on adults’ bodies,” said Russ Fine, Ph.D., M.S.P.H., director of the UAB ICRC and the SCIB. “To our knowledge, this is the first project to assess the physical responses to a car crash that will use a computer-generated simulation of a child’s entire body.”

The project was presented at the SCIB 5th Annual Scientific Symposium on Dec. 5 and 6, 2007 in Birmingham. The SCIB Symposium draws scientists, engineers and transportation experts from across the country who present their projects as well during the two-day event. Topics include the biomechanics of whiplash and other neck injuries, and automotive related heart injury.

The SCIB is a unique, multidisciplinary alliance of world-class engineers, physicians and scientists working collaboratively to achieve a significant reduction in motor vehicle crash-related injuries and deaths. For more on the SCIB and the UAB ICRC, visit http://www.uab.edu/icrc.

DVD copies for both the 2006 and 2007 Southern Consortium for Injury Biomechanic Symposia can be ordered by calling 205-996-6086.

Below you will find copies of materials from our 2007 Symposium.

Click here for video of the 2007 Symposium

Click Here For A Copy Of The 2007 Program

Click Here For A Copy Individual Investigator Presentations

Below you will find video and copies of materials from our 2006 Symposium.

Click here for video of the 2006 Symposium

Click Here For A Copy Of The 2006 Program

Click Here For A Copy Of The 2005 Proceedings

Click Here For A Copy Of Individual Investigator Presentations