We are honored to officially welcome you to the International Conference on Spreading Depolarization (iCSD) 2026, hosted at the historic University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. This year’s conference will feature top innovative new science, stimulating discussion, world renowned keynote speakers, and an exciting social program designed to facilitate ongoing networking and collaboration. The iCSD conference has evolved from a pioneering group of collaborating investigators working together to attempt to define the occurrence and role of spreading depolarization (SD) events in patients with severe brain injuries (COSBID: Cooperative Studies on Brain Injury Depolarization) to now a broad scientific exchange related to headache, stroke, seizures, neuro-critical care and other fields. All these disparate fields are united by a goal of better understanding the fundamental mechanism of SD, which is ubiquitous in human brain function but remains largely understudied due to the difficulty of direct monitoring. Translational and preclinical science has been the cornerstone of the iCSD community as SD is one of the most well-preserved pathways of brain injury across species. Our goals are both fundamental discovery related to this understudied mechanism and development of therapeutic approaches related to SD to improve human health. The theme of the conference this year is Knowledge, Wisdom, Education. This is fitting for our location at the home of Thomas Jefferson, who said: The possession of facts is knowledge; the use of them is wisdom; the choice of them, education. Knowledge is not power but riches, and like them, has its value in spending. Our goal for iCSD is to balance key fundamental insights and discoveries in the field of SD (Knowledge) with translational science focused on the iterative process of clinical and preclinical application (Wisdom). These pillars underlie a broader mission of pushing the frontiers of SD physiology to both the broader neuroscience community and to other conditions where SD may play a central role (Education). We look forward to you joining us this fall in Charlottesville! Andrew P Carlson, MD, MS-CR iCSD 2026 Chair Professor of Neurosurgery University of Virginia