Quarterly News Magazine
of the
Neurocritical Care Society
December, 2017
Volume 12 - Number 4
Editor-in-Chief
Saef Izzy, MD
Boston, MA
Editorial Board
Michel Torbey, MD
Columbus, OH
Jose Suarez, MD
Baltimore, MD
Wade Smith, MD, PhD
San Francisco, CA
Masao NAGAYAMA, MD, PhD
Shizuoka, Japan
Aimee Aysenne, MD
New Orleans, LA
Chitra Venkatasubramanian, MD
Palo Alto, CA
Audrey Paulson, DNP
San Jose, CA
Kimberly Levasseur-Franklin, PharmD
Boston, MA
Fawaz Al-Mufti, MD
New York, NY
Jennifer Kim, MD, PhD
Boston, MA
Raimund Helbok, MD, PD
Innsbruck, Austria
Peter J. Papadakos, MD
Rochester, NY
Ciro Ramos-Estebanez MD, PhD
Cleveland, OH
Michael Reznik, MD
Providence, RI
Lauren Koffman, DO, MS
Chicago, IL
Brad Molyneaux, MD, PhD
Pittsburgh, PA
Michael Schneck, MD
Chicago, IL
Note from the Editor
Dear Colleagues,
I would like to welcome you to the final issue of 2017 of Currents, the official
quarterly news magazine of NCS. As we are approaching the New Year, I would
like to wish everyone a happy holiday season and express sincere appreciation to
our editorial board members and to everyone that participated in sustaining the
Currents’ spirit and advancing its mission during 2017.
Over the last year, our Currents team has been working hard to grow this quarterly
magazine nationally and internationally. Expanding our editorial board, updating
our newsletter designs, and starting new international sections including European, South American
and Asian corners were among the major highlights of 2017. Our plan for 2018 is to continue this
global newsletter success, keeping our content valuable, scientific and educational. Remember, it’s all
about teamwork, so please stay involved!
In the last issue of Currents, we launched two new sections: “Stories of Hope” and “Neurocritical Care
Fellowship Alumni.” Both sections were very well received by our readership. To boost the social aspect
of our newsletter, we decided to keep both sections as standard columns. Please join me in welcoming
our two new editorial board members:
Editor of Stories of Hope section: Michael Reznik, MD, is an assistant professor of neurology, Alpert
Medical School, at Brown University/Rhode Island Hospital.
Editor of Neurocritical Care Fellowship Alumni section: Lauren Koffman, DO, MS, is an assistant
professor in the Department of Neurological Sciences at Rush University Medical Center.
This issue of Currents contains informative and exciting news articles and features that are sure to
educate and entertain you. In addition to our regular columns, this issue of Currents features many
motivating news articles that I highly recommend, including the exciting re-organization of research
in NCS articles by Chethan Venkasubba and Susanne Muehlschlegel, Neurocritical Care Program in
Germany, and Lancet Neurology Commission on TBI by Andrew Mass and David Menon.
In an effort to expand our readership internationally and implement our ambitious plan to launch
Currents in different languages, in this issue we started a pilot experience of publishing a Spanish and
English version of “The Neurocritical Care World Society Launches First South American Regional
Conference and ENLS Course in Spanish” article. Please review this section and send us your feedback.
Please let us know if you are interested in joining this new initiative.
To enhance the educational value of this publication, we started a new section called “Point of Care
Ultrasonography - POCUS” in cooperation with a motivated group of NCS. Please find their first
POCUS background and illustrative case article on page 30.
Is it about the time to transition to ACGME fellowship accreditation? To learn more about the
transition challenges and its future benefits, please refer to 28.
Don’t miss out on the neuro trauma journey in Saigon! Karthik is neurointensivist at Wake Forest
who visited Vietnam and had the opportunity to practice neurocritical care in a very challenging
environment, which I found very inspiring. To learn more about Karthik’s experience in Vietnam,
please refer to 10.
I hope you enjoy this issue. As always, if you have ideas on improving Currents or wish to contribute,
please email me at sizzy@bwh.harvard.edu. Any NCS member who would like to cover news from the
Middle East and Africa, or would like to participate in Currents, is encouraged to contact me. I’m also
on the lookout for future Currents cover page artwork, so send me photos that you would like to see
proudly displayed in an upcoming issue.
On the cover: The cover art for this issue was submitted by David Lerner, MD, a neurointensivist at
Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, Massachusetts. The picture depicts the Gurduberg
basalt columns on the Snaefellsnes peninsula in Iceland. The picture was taken during a winter
vacation while completing his neurocritical care fellowship. As quoted by David, “Although winters in
Iceland are bitter with freezing temperatures and limited sunlight, the landscape is beautiful, and the
Icelandic people know how to create a warm and inviting environment. I try to use this in my every
day practice in the neurointensive care unit — even the worse situation can be approached with a
positive attitude.”
Happy Holidays!
Saef Izzy, MD
Editor-in-Chief
Sincerely,
Saef Izzy
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