Critical Care Research

The critical care faculty of the Emory Department of Surgery are highly active researchers. Their basic science studies typically focus on gut integrity and the immunological host response in sepsis, while their bench-to-bedside research often concentrates on designing, testing, and implementing innovations in critical care.


Investigators

Dr. Scott Davis

Timothy Buchman, PhD, MD

Dr. Buchman's translational research has spanned the bench-to-bedside continuum, including NIH-funded studies of physiological dynamics, patient monitoring, the genetics of sepsis, and ICU end-of-life care. The goal of much of his work is to develop sophisticated systems and processes that will give ICU clinicians the ability to predict and plan for the future of each patient through the use of multiple streams of realtime data analytics.

During his 2009-2018 service as the founding director of the Emory Critical Care Center, Dr. Buchman oversaw the integration of ICUs throughout the Emory Healthcare system and assembled multi-disciplinary teams of clinicians, teachers, and investigators to enable education, treatment, and research that defined best clinical practice.

In 2017, a report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found that Emory's Electronic ICU (eICU) Program, a concept developed by Dr. Buchman, reduced hospital stays, saved millions of dollars, and eased provider shortage. Emory's e-ICU involves experienced Emory intensivists and critical care nurses providing 24-hour support from a remote location to various satellite ICUs via secure electronic monitoring and communications systems. Dr. Buchman is medical director of Emory's eICU, which also includes an eICU program at Royal Perth Hospital in Australia.

Dr. Buchman is past president of the Shock Society, the Society for Complex Acute Illness, and the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the latter being the largest organization of critical care professionals worldwide.

Dr. Edward Lin

Craig Coopersmith, MD

Dr. Coopersmith, director of the Emory Critical Care Center and vice chair of research for the Emory Department of Surgery, is one of the top investigators of sepsis and shock in the country. His basic science focus is gut apoptosis and the immunological host response in sepsis, with a concentration on the setting of cancer or alcohol use disorders as well as the co-inhibitory marker 2B4.

His current research activity includes an NIH T32 training grant and three NIH R01 grants, two of which are collaborative studies with Emory transplant immunologist Dr. Mandy Ford that are investigating aspects of the immunological host response in sepsis.

Dr. Coopersmith was a member of the the international taskforce that redefined the terms "sepsis" and "septic shock" in 2016, terms that had not been revised since 2001. He served as president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine from 2015-2016, and is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, which requires its members to have an outstanding record of scholarly achievement in biomedical research.

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