In this guest column by UTMB’s Elizabeth Protas: There has been a dramatic increase in the number of brain injuries treated in emergency departments. A recent study analyzing data from more than 950 hospitals across the country found there were 2.5 million emergency room visits for traumatic brain injuries in 2010 — a 29 percent increase from 2006. During that same period, overall emergency room visits increased only 3.6 percent. The UTMB School of Health Professions and the Transitional Learning Center in Galveston recently hosted the Galveston Brain Injury Conference.