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Dr. Raghavan Murugan Obtains MS Degree in Clinincal Research
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Percutaneous Tracheostomy Workshop Introduced by Dr. David Crippen |
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Guest Professor Donald Marion, MD visits the Safar Center
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Dr. Murray Pollack - 2008 Grenvik Lecturer
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 The
Mission of the Department of Critical Care Medicine is
to provide exemplary care for critically ill patients,
conduct cutting edge research related to life-threatening
acute medical problems, and educate tomorrow’s
leaders in the field of critical care medicine. |
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Ever since Dr. Raghavan Murugan was a second year CCM fellow in our program at Pitt, he has participated in the Clinical Research Training Program conducted by the Pitt Department of General Internal Medicine. He completed the required 30 credits with his major in the Clinical Trials track in April 2008. Dr. Murugan's research involved a prospective observational study of inflammatory response in organ donors and its influence on organ transplantation and recipient survival. At the February 2008 SCCM Congress in Hawaii, he won an award in the CPR category for his abstract entitled "Preload Responsiveness is Associated with Increased IL - 6 and Lower Organ Yield from Cadaveric Donors."
Critical Care Medicine continues to address the needs of critically ill patients on multiple levels. Recent advances in surgical technology have suggested that bedside percutaneous tracheostomy (PCT) is beneficial for patients who will require mechanical ventilation for prolonged periods. Cost and staff manpower is decreased. Patient comfort is enhanced, decreasing sedation requirements, the efficiency of pulmonary toilet is increased, possibly decreasing the advent of Ventilator Associated Pneumonia (VAP) and facilitation of weaning from the ventilator by allowing rapid resumption of mechanical ventilation if the attempt unexpectedly fails.
Donald Marion, MD visited the Safar Center on February 14, 2008. Dr. Marion is the Science Officer of the Children’s Neurobiological Solutions Foundation located in Santa Barbara, California. Dr. Marion gave a lecture titled “Therapeutic Hypothermia: Past, Present and Future,” to a standing-room-only audience of researchers, faculty, fellows and students. 
Michael R. Pinsky, MD was invited to a private formal opening of the University of Oxford’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering on April 16, 2008 in Oxford, UK by Professor Lionel Tarassenko, the Professor of Electrical Engineering at Oxford and the new Director of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering. The photograph shows Drs. Pinsky and Tarassenko in front of the poster announcing the opening. Dr. Pinsky has been working closely with Dr. Tarassenko for the past three years on a patient safety program through a company Dr. Tarassenko founded 8 years ago, called Oxford BioSigns. 
Murray Pollack, MD, MBA, Vice President of Medical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer of Phoenix Children's Hospital since 2007, was invited to deliver the 2008 Grenvik Lecture. As a 28-year veteran of Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC, and a pioneer of pediatric critical care medicine he has gained world-wide reputation for his many accomplishments, including the PRISM scoring system in pediatric CCM. He addressed the Pitt CCM Department on April 8th with his Research Conference on "New Outcomes, New Predictors" and on April 9th with the main lecture on the topic "Leadership Skills in Medicine: Do They Matter." Both presentations drew crowded audiences with lively discussions, indicating great appreciation for these excellent topics.