Faculty members from UW Emergency Medicine are world leaders in resuscitation science. Investigators from UW Emergency Medicine participate in a number of large, multicenter trials including the NIH-funded Resuscitation Outcome Consortium, Prevention and Early Treatment of Acute Lung Injury (PETAL) Network, and the Strategies to Innovate EmeRgENcy Care Clinical Trials Network (SIREN).
CARDIAC ARREST & PREHOSPITAL CARE
Collectively, members of the emergency medicine faculty have conducted seminal cardiac arrest studies, authored key documents such as the American Heart Association guidelines and the Institute of Medicine’s report on improving cardiac arrest survival, and led an emergency medical services system whose cardiac arrest survival ranks among the highest in the world. Current areas of investigation include prehospital clinical trials (Drs. Graham Nichol, Mickey Eisenberg, and Michael Sayre), prehospital response optimization (Drs. Michael Sayre and Andrew McCoy), cardiac rhythm waveform analysis (Dr. Heemun Kwok), and post-arrest critical care (Dr. Nicholas Johnson, Graham Nichol, Catherine Counts, and Michael Sayre). Dr. Johnson serves as Principal Investigator for the Pacific Northwest hub of the NIH/NHLBI/NINDS Influence of Cooling Duration on Efficacy in Cardiac Arrest Patients (ICECAP) trial.
TRAUMA & HEMORRHAGE CONTROL
In the lab of Dr. Susan Stern, a team of emergency physicians and bioengineers investigates novel approaches to hemorrhage control after traumatic injury. Our focus is on the biochemistry, pathophysiology, and treatment of life-threatening injury. Dr. Nathan White, who also holds appointments in the Departments of Bioengineering and Mechanical Engineering, has developed a bio-inspired polymeric clotting factor that strengthens clot formation in the body. Dr. Alex St. John investigates mechanisms of primary hemostasis dysfunction after traumatic injury and develops novel wound dressings to halt life-threatening hemorrhage.
Platelets are a vital blood component that help clotting after traumatic injury. Drs. White and St. John, along with Research Scientist Dr. Xu Wang, are part of a team that recently developed a prototype method for assessing platelet health. Their research was published in Nature Communications.
SEPSIS & ARDS
Sepsis is a time-sensitive emergency condition that affects nearly one million people in the United States per year. Previous DEM faculty member Dr. Daniel Henning investigated strategies to aid in the initial diagnosis of sepsis, using both clinical factors and biomarkers to identify patients at higher risk for death. Dr. Nicholas Johnson studies strategies to optimize the care of critically ill patients in the emergency department with a focus on sepsis, cardiac arrest, and mechanical ventilation. Dr. Johnson serves as Principal Investigator at UW/Harborview for the Prevention and Early Treatment of Acute Lung Injury; Dr. Henning is Co-Investigator.