The 2026 International Stroke Conference is quickly approaching. Hosted by the American Heart Association (AHA), the annual International Stroke Conference runs February 4 through February 6, with additional pre-conference symposia taking place on February 3. In 2026, the conference will take place in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

Today, we are previewing the 2026 International Stroke Conference, including what’s new, registration information, programming, CE opportunities, and more.

What’s New for the 2026 International Stroke Conference

The 2026 International Stroke Conference features some exciting new opportunities. The AHA provided a rundown of what is new, including: 

  • Fireside Chats – A new dynamic session type that focuses more on conversation than formal lectures.
  • Improved digital oral poster presentation experience – Attendees can spend all day Wednesday and Thursday within five digital oral poster theaters, making sharing and discussion easier than before.
  • International Presence – The 2026 conference features double the joint sessions with international associations for more global perspectives.
  • Communities and Categories – All sessions will be organized into 15 community types to make it easier for attendees to focus on what’s most important to them. Additionally, there are 22 new categories, allowing for a more tailored experience.
  • Brain Health Symposium – A new full-day pre-conference event.
  • Stroke OnDemand™ – AHA Professional Members now have access to over 100 digital sessions.

2026 International Stroke Conference Registration

Registration is currently open to AHA members and nonmembers. Members receive a discount on registration costs, and some discounts are available to certain groups, including early career members, students, premium members, and more.

Virtual registration is also available and includes access to lake-breaking science sessions, all main events, the new 2025 guidelines on acute ischemic stroke, virtual access to a trio of live streaming session rooms, virtual access to all concurrent sessions 24 hours following their presentations, and online ePoster access.

In-person attendees also receive access to online ePosters, the concurrent sessions 24 hours following their presentation, and the three streaming session rooms, in addition to all the in-person events taking place.

Once registered, attendees will have access to the registration resource center, where they can review their registration details, print receipts, add additional registration items, and more.

2026 International Stroke Conference Pre-Conference Symposia

The pre-conference symposia (listed a bit further down on the registration page) require separate registration from the main conference. These day-long mini meetings take place on February 3, the day before the main conference begins. 

There are five pre-conference symposia available in-person:

  • Stroke in Practice
  • Experimental Stroke Science
  • Health Equity and Actionable Disparities in Stroke
  • State-of-the-Science Stroke Nursing Symposium
  • Brain Health Pre-Con Symposium

Virtual attendees have access to four of the five pre-con symposium. Health Equity and Actionable Disparities in Stroke is in-person only.

2026 International Stroke Conference Programming and Abstracts

The International Stroke Conference program planner tool is an excellent way to quickly scan through the selection of sessions currently available. The program planner allows users to sort by day, session type, category, and speaker, along with sorting between in-person and virtual options. The program planner also allows for bookmarking sessions of interest for easy reference.

Additionally, the program planner also features a listing of all the abstracts set to be presented at the conference. Simply open the tool at the link provided in the previous paragraph, navigate to “Abstracts” in the Meeting Resources menu, and you will be taken to a listing of the hundreds of abstracts available for perusal. 

An Android/iOS-friendly mobile app is also available for on-the-go planning and real-time conference updates.

CE Credit for the 2026 International Stroke Conference

As of this writing, the CE Credit page for the 2026 International Stroke Conference refers to the 2025 conference regarding what type of credit to expect to be available in 2026. The AHA provided a break down of the credit types for the 2025 sessions and separate symposia. 

The page then details the process for claiming credit. The fourteen-step process is concise and straightforward and will guide users through the process up to downloading CE certificates.

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