Team
The overall mission of the Center for Resuscitation Science is to improve the survival of victims of cardiac arrest by developing new, more effective treatments and therapies. To accomplish this goal, a team had to be constructed that has the ability to address all aspects required for success including: a solid academic and clinical foundation for collaborative research, access to early responders and community organizations, and a global reach.
The University of Pennsylvania provided the opportunity to form a multidisciplinary team for resuscitation therapies and resuscitation care. The team includes a diverse range of scientists from the medical sciences and engineering, including scientists and clinicians with backgrounds in biochemistry, cellular physiology, medicine, pediatrics, emergency medicine, anesthesia, surgery, trauma, critical care, neurosciences, mechanical engineering, bioengineering, nursing, veterinary medicine and others. With a leadership team composed of the Director and six Associate Directors plus multiple individual laboratories, the Center will leverage the strengths of the University of Pennsylvania’s multiple schools and diverse faculty.
The University of Pennsylvania’s urban campus, in the heart of Philadelphia, and its status as a Trauma Center, provide ample opportunity to interface with the community and with the early responders serving the community. With over 100,000 patients seen in the University of Pennsylvania’s three hospitals annually and more NIH research funding, $4 million annually, than any Emergency Medicine department nationwide, our campus serves as one of the largest emergency medicine laboratories in the world.
The faculty leaders within the Center have strong national and international active collaborations that will be strengthened in the coming years. These collaborations are a priority, in part to enhance worldwide resuscitation research by offering the Center for Resuscitation Science as a focal point for bringing the best minds in the world together to most rapidly develop new therapies but also, to grow the global leadership in resuscitation science. The new Center for Resuscitation Science at the University of Pennsylvania will develop these leaders as well as the next generation of resuscitation researchers.
Discovery
Sudden death occurs when the flow of blood to vital organs of the body quickly and unexpectedly stops due to cardiac arrest. Emergency rescuers currently have only four minutes to resuscitate these patients before it is too late to save the heart and brain. As a result of this four-minute time barrier, almost all cardiac arrest victims die.
Current therapies used for over thirty years focus only on restoring blood flow quickly. The newest science reveals that more cells die in the first minutes after blood flow is returned than die during the time that blood flow is stopped.
This means that emergency care providers need to focus not on how quickly we resuscitate, but the way we resuscitate, using new medications and therapies when blood flow is first restored that alter the life and death struggle at the cellular level.
The organizational structure for the Center uses an innovative matrix model to optimize the discovery of “big science” questions like modulation of the interface between life and death. By design, the model is dynamic and interdisciplinary, encouraging collaboration, and exploring the interface between seemingly diverse fields of research.
The Center brings together basic scientists, bioengineers, and health care providers who share a common goal of improving our understanding of ischemia-reperfusion injury and developing new therapies and devices to enhance survival following cardiac arrest and other ischemic events (e.g. myocardial infarction, stroke and severe trauma).
Center scientists are committed to developing new medicines and devices for optimal resuscitation by:
- understanding the underlying mechanisms of cell damage caused by sudden death from the level of molecules and DNA
- discovering the way cells and tissues communicate with each other during stress
- engineering new devices to better measure cell damage and recovery in human patients
Translation
Translational research, also referred to as “from bench to bedside”, is intended to translate knowledge derived from laboratory work, basic research, into clinical applications. Rather than waiting for a major breakthrough, discoveries are translated into usable therapies, protocols, and products to improve patient care on an ongoing basis. The Center for Resuscitation Science is committed to implementing this model by executing on a strategic plan that incorporates development and implementation of new discoveries via corporate partners, community organizations, other non-profit organizations, and the University of Pennsylvania Department of Emergency Medicine.
If you are interested in becoming a Center for Resuscitation Science translational partner, please contact us.
Saving Lives
Milestones have already been achieved in resuscitation research and implemented in communities nationwide. A few examples are:
- Certain Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) no longer require a prescription enabling them to be placed in airports, train stations, schools, and businesses for faster access to life-saving apparatus
- In conjunction with manufacturers, the American Heart Association developed the CPR AnytimeTM and AED AnytimeTM training programs to increase access to CPR/AED training to broaden the number of trained responders-an individual can be trained in CPR in as little as 22 minutes
- A new product called Q-CPR measures the quality of the CPR being delivered and then gives immediate feedback so the Advanced Life Support clinician can treat the patient as effectively as possible
- Construction has begun on four specially equipped “Resuscitation Bays” in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Emergency Room to reduce the amount of time to treatment for a patient suffering form cardiac arrest
For more information on therapies and community programs, please visit the links to the sponsoring companies and community organizations.