Traumatic brain injuries affect more than 1.5 million Americans a year and are the signature wound of U.S. servicemembers injured in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Giffords TBI Town Hall focused on the impact of these injuries on the military and the importance of rehabilitation in the treatment and recovery of TBI patients. Prevalence of TBI among the civilian population also was discussed.

Speakers included Dr. Jayendra H. Shaw, chief of staff of SAVAHCS; Dr. Christine Kwasnica, medical director of neurorehabilitation at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix; Dr. Alex Hishaw, staff neurologist at SAVAHCS; Dr. Susan Lucht, clinical director of physical medicine and rehabilitation at SAVAHCS, Mattie Cummins, Executive Director of the Arizona Brain Injury Association, and Erik Castillo, an Iraq veteran who sustained traumatic brain injury.