PROJECT SUMMARY
We propose to continue to serve as a Regional Coordinating Center (RCC) for Stroke Net that will continue to perform stroke-related clinical trials, bring new trials to the network, and train new stroke investigators. Our RCC includes University Hospitals of Cleveland, Cleveland Clinic, Metro Health Medical Center, and the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Administration Medical Center, all affiliated with Case Western Reserve University. Our RCC, initially funded in 2013 and renewed in 2018, subsequently expanded to include additional sites at Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio; OhioHealth in Columbus, Ohio; Corewell Health in Grand Rapids, Michigan; West Virginia University Healthcare in Morgantown, West Virginia; and Allegheny Health in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We also reduced the number of sites by removing community hospitals that were not actively screening or enrolling in Stroke Net. Our RCC contains a variety of hospital types, including a county hospital with a large emergency department, a VA hospital, multiple urban academic medical centers, and an academic medical center in a rural state, ensuring a diverse patient and study population. Our key personnel represent a diverse group composed of neurologists, neurosurgeons, emergency medicine specialists, neurointerventionalists, neurointensivists, pediatric neurologists, neuroradiologists, vascular surgeons, physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists. Our RCC has a track record of enrolling patients in acute treatment, prevention, and rehabilitation studies. We have brought new projects to the network and have representatives on all Stroke Net working groups. Our RCC consists of eight Comprehensive Stroke Centers; state-of-the-art transportation resources, including critical care air transport with physicians and nurse practitioners on board; and three hospital systems with mobile stroke units that administer thrombolytics in the field or en route to the hospital. We have special expertise in penumbral imaging, acute endovascular therapy, and rehabilitation, especially functional electrical stimulation. We propose to continue the current leadership with co-PIs Drs. Sophia Sundararajan and Ken Uchino and representatives from the nine hospitals. David Haney will continue as Project Manager, and Dr. Irene Katzan will continue as Training Director. This leadership will oversee the RCC and provide mentorship for additional junior investigators. Our leadership succession plan has already successfully mentored Drs. Sundararajan and Uchino, who assumed roles as co-PIs with the 2018 renewal of the RCC. With the expertise and resources detailed in this application, the Case Western Reserve University RCC will be well positioned to enhance the structure and organization of our RCC and further accelerate participation in clinical trials for stroke prevention, acute intervention, and rehabilitation in adults and children.
