April 20, 1998
							Contact:
Marguerite Beck
								      (804)
924-5679

Editors and reporters:  Due to limited seating. media credentials will
be required for the event; they will be issued on a first-come,
first-served basis.  To obtain credentials, call Media Relations at
(804) 924-5679.

	Actor Christopher Reeve, who was hospitalized in 1995 at the
University of Virginia Medical Center after suffering a life-threatening
spinal cord injury, will return to U.VA. to participate in a panel
discussion on issues related to spinal cord injuries on Friday, May 15.
The hour-long program, "A Look into the Future: Prospects for Treatment
in the Year 2005," will began at 12:30 p.m. at McLeod Hall auditorium,
15th Street and Lane Road.
	Since the horseback-riding accident in Culpeper, that left him
paralyzed from the neck down, Reeve has become a national advocate for
increased awareness and support of spinal cord injury research.
	Joining Reeve for the panel discussion will be: Dr. John Jane,
chairman of U.Va.'s neurosurgery department, who treated Reeve during
his month-long stay at the Medical Center; Dr. Zach Hall, vice
chancellor for research at the University of California, San Francisco;
Dr. Michael Thorner, chairman of internal medicine at U.Va.; and state
Senator Emily Couric, who sponsored a bill that established the
Commonwealth Neurotrauma Initiative Trust Fund in the 1998 legislative
session.
	Reeve, who is president of the Christopher Reeve Foundation and
chairman of the American Paralysis Association, is returning to U.Va.
for the first time since his injury to be the keynote speaker at U.Va.'s
Valedictory Exercises on Saturday, May 16, during graduation weekend.
	The panel discussion on Friday will be the concluding session of
a scientific workshop, organized by U.Va.'s department of Neurosciences,
to review potential new advances toward solving the problem of spinal
cord regeneration.  The three-day workshop, which will be held at the
Wintergreen Resort in nearby Nelson County, will bring together leading
national and international spinal cord researchers and representatives
from the International Spinal Research Trust, American Paralysis
Association, Rick Hansen Institute, Spinal Cord Research Foundation, the
Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Kent Waldrep National Paralysis
Foundation.
	The Friday event is open to the public, but will be ticketed due
to limited seating in McLeod auditorium.  The tickets will be available
on a first-come, first-served basis on Monday, May 11, and Tuesday, May
12, at the following locations: U.Va. Medical Center, Guest Services,
room 1605 (off main hospital lobby) from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Body Talk
resource center, Medical Center West Complex, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.;
and the U.Va. Bookstore (garage parking will be validated) from 8:30
a.m. to 6 p.m.
	Since parking will not be available near the auditorium, a
special shuttle bus service will run from University Hall to McLeod Hall
on Friday, May 15.  Charter buses, which are wheelchair accessible, will
run every 10 minutes from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. 
	For additional information on ticket distribution sites, please
call Helene Ramos, 804-924 1262.
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