| ASCCA
Research
ASCCA Physician Scientist Award
The American Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists (ASCCA) and the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER) offer the ASCCA-FAER-Hospira Physician Scientist Award, aimed at promoting critical care research. This $75,000 award is supported in part by Hospira.
The ASCCA selects recipients of the ASCCA-FAER-Hospira Physician Scientist Award from among FAER grant awardees each year. Given the tremendous diversity of critical care medicine, this award is appropriate for funding a wide spectrum of research. Physicians interested in researching critical care are encouraged to apply for all available FAER grants. Information on grant categories and application guidelines are on the FAER website at www.faer.org/programs/grants.
The 2009 Recipients of the ASCCA-FAER-Hospira Physician Scientist Award are:
 |
Michael L. James, M.D.
Duke University Hospital
FAER Mentored Research Training Grant: “Pharmacogenomic Influence of ApoE and Mimetic Peptide on Neurologic Outcomes as a Paradigm for Targeted Therapeutic Development in a Murine Model of Intracerebral Hemmorrhage”
|
Mentors: Daniel T. Laskowitz, M.D.; David S. Warner, M.D.
Summary: As a frequent admitting diagnosis to neurosurgical intensive care units, intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is vastly understudied but known to generate marked neuroinflammatory response with poor clinical outcome. The aim is to develop rational, targeted pharmacogenomic therapies by using a murine model of ICH in transgenic systems. By setting up a series of experiments utilizing mice expressing human apolipoproteinE isoforms (apoE3 and apoE4), the isoform-specific effects on neuroinflammation after ICH can be identified. Thus, testing the specific hypothesis that endogenous expression of apoE modifies neurological deficits by modulating glial activation in an isoform-specific manner will allow for the development of rationally-derived mimetic peptides to manipulate these effects. By examining cytokine generation with complementary histochemical techniques, determination of the extent to which apoE and mimetic peptides confer neuroprotection through neuroinflammatory modulation will be made, demonstrating apoE as a compelling target for pharmacogenomic therapy to improve recovery for critically ill patients with ICH.
 |
Jennifer K. Lee, M.D.
Johns Hopkins University
FAER Research Fellowship Grant: “Cerebrovascular Autoregulation after Pediatric Cardiac Arrest”
|
Mentor: Raymond C. Koehler, Ph.D.
Summary: Pediatric cardiac arrest often results in permanent neurologic injury despite efforts to protect the brain by inducing hypothermia after resuscitation. Cerebrovascular autoregulation maintains constant blood flow to the brain across changes in blood pressure. Deranged autoregulation and inappropriate blood pressure management may contribute to poor neurologic outcomes. Autoregulation has not been adequately studied after resuscitation from cardiac arrest in children, and the effects of hypothermia are unclear. We hypothesize that autoregulation is impaired and that different temperatures affect autoregulation after resuscitation from cardiac arrest. In neonatal swine resuscitated from arrest, cerebral blood flow and autoregulatory indices will be monitored during normothermia and hypothermia. Blood pressure will be raised or lowered to test autoregulatory function and the limits of autoregulation. Blood pressure management that supports autoregulation is integral to improving neurologic outcomes after cardiac arrest. Data derived from these experiments will provide critical evidence for improving clinical guidelines in pediatric resuscitation.
This grant is made possible through the support of Hospira and is known as the ASCCA - FAER - Hospira Physician Scientist Award. Interested candidates
should submit their applications to
FAER,
following the FAER Research Training Grant (RTG) guidelines and
format. Candidates need only indicate specific interest in the ASCCA
award. The physician scientist award provides research funding in
the amount of $75,000 per year for two years.
The research grant award requires 80 percent time and mentorship
by a senior mentor with a history of training individuals, who develop
independent research programs. The mentor should have a strong portfolio
of active extramural (usually NIH) funding. The applicant must be
board-eligible, or certified in both anesthesiology and critical
care, and provide convincing evidence of a long-range commitment
to an investigative career. A wide spectrum of research will be
deemed appropriate for funding for the physician scientist award
given the tremendous diversity of pathophysiology that relates to
critical care medicine.
Interested individuals are encouraged to apply for the award.
Previous Year’s Award Recipients
 |
July 2005 – June 2007
Pratik Pandharipande, M.D., Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Title of Research Project - A Randomized, Double-Blind Trial in Ventilated ICU Patients Comparing Treatment with an Alpha 2 Agonist Versus a Gamma Aminobutyric Acid (GABA) – Agonist to Determine Delirium Rates, Efficacy of Sedation and Analgesia, and Clinical Outcomes Including Duration of Mechanical Ventilation and 3 Month Cognitive Status." |
 |
January
2004 – December 2005
Guido Musch, M.D. of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Title
of Research Project - "Regional Effects of Alveolar Recruiting
Strategies on Gas Exchange and Cellular Inflammation in Acute Lung
Injury." |
| |
|
| |
|
TOP
|