Exciting Re-organization of Research in NCS:
Building Neurocritical Care Research Central
By Chethan P. Venkatasubba Rao and Susanne Muehlschlegel, Research Operations Subcommittee Co-Chairs
“To promote and foster
research in neurocritical
care” has been a
strategic mission of
the Neurocritical Care
Society (NCS). In the
past, research within NCS
was scattered among four
different, independently
acting entities: the
Research Committee,
Grant Review Taskforce,
Annual Meeting Science Subcommittee, and the Neurocritical Care
Research Network. Cross-communication was limited, leaving each
entity siloed — clearly not ideal to support research within NCS.
Furthering NCS’ strategic mission on strengthening and building
research, a new structure for all research operations of NCS has
now been created and approved by the Board of Directors at
the 15th annual meeting in Hawaii: Neurocritical Care Research
Central (NCRC) (See Figure 1). This architecture was designed in
combined efforts by Drs. Paul Vespa, Daiwai Olson, Jose Suarez,
Susanne Muehlschlegel and Chethan Venkatasubba Rao. The
goal of NCRC is to centralize all research initiatives within NCS
with research strategies aligned and executed cohesively, to foster
collaborative research among various facets of the society, to create
leadership serving all research within the NCS, and representing
NCS to outside research networks and other professional societies.
In this new structure, NCRC will have four subcommittees
(See Figure 1):
1. Research Operations Subcommittee, formerly the
NCS Research Committee
2. Grants Subcommittee
3. Neurocritical Care Research Network Subcommittee
4. Annual Meeting Translational Science Session Subcommittee
The NCRC will be led by two co-directors, who will be appointed
through a process akin to an NCS officer, with nomination
through a research operations sub-committee taskforce and cochairs,
with approval by the Executive Committee and Board of
Directors. Nominees for this position are considered based on
their research expertise, research funding and publication track
record, their collaborative efforts, ambassadorship to the NCS and
representation to other professional societies, mentorship record,
and diversity of their background, training and practice. Gender
equality is also a major consideration. The co-directors will serve
a total term of four years, two as co-directors elect and two more
as co-directors, reporting to the NCS Executive Committee and the
Board of Directors. They will also serve as the external diplomate
for NCS research and will envision and implement NCS research
endeavors. A transparent appointment process with due diligence
is in progress, and an announcement of the personnel will be
made to the membership and readers of Currents, duly.
The Research Operations Subcommittee will continue to be led by
two co-chairs (currently Drs. Susanne Muehlschlegel and Chethan
Venkatasubba Rao). The scope of this subcommittee is to manage
the overall research operations within NCS. Multiple task forces
have been created for several important tasks: nomination for
the NCRC co-directors, research funding announcement (RFA)
overhaul (until new leadership of the Grants Subcommittee has
been appointed), website
redesign for research
matters, creation of
material promoting the
Neurocritical Care Research
Network, managing and
improving the approval
and distribution of surveys, communications to Currents, and
organization and participation in the NCRN research conference
of 2018.
The Grants Subcommittee, which was an independent task force,
will be led by one chair and one chair-elect each under a two-year
term. The operatives of this subcommittee include creation of RFAs,
managing a standardized application review process, coordination
of the announcement of the awards at the annual meeting,
monitoring progress and determining continued grant support. As
of now, the NCS research fellowship grant is the only active funding
mechanism, but the NCS - Investing in Clinical Neurocritical Care
Research (NCS-INCLINE) grant is another funding initiative by
NCS, anticipated to be formally announced soon, which will be
administered and monitored by this subcommittee.
Two co-chairs will lead the Neurocritical Care Research Network
(NCRN) Subcommittee. The functions include providing reviews
and endorsement of external collaborations for approval by the
NCRC co-directors, creating repositories and shared systems
for study protocols and institutional review boards and ethics
panels to facilitate multicenter research studies, creating data
coordinating center for pilot trials, creating a self-sustaining
funding mechanism for the NCRN, facilitating point prevalence
multicenter studies similar to PRINCE study, and continuing to
create and support neurocritical care research conferences.
The Annual Meeting and Translational Science Session
Subcommittee will continue to serve as the liaison for the Annual
Meeting Committee but overseen by the NCRC. The scope of work
will be to advance NCS’ scientific agenda and develop a process for
improving and advancing the quality of abstracts submitted to the
annual meeting, create a rigorous evaluation process of abstracts,
and organize the translational science session at the annual meeting
in coordination with the vice president and the Annual Meeting
Committee. A chair and a co-chair will lead this subcommittee.
We enthusiastically look forward to our work in the Research
Operations Subcommittee. Members of a newly appointed
Currents taskforce within our committee will take over reporting
our progress to the Currents readers.
With warm wishes,
Co-Chairs of the Research Operations Subcommittee
Chethan P. Venkatasubba Rao, MD
Section Head—Vascular Neurology and Neurocritical Care
Baylor College of Medicine
Susanne Muehlschlegel, MD, MPH, FNCS, FCCM
Associate Professor of Neurology, Anesthesia/Critical Care and Surgery
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Figure 1: Neurocritical Care Research Central organization chart
NCRC
Research Operations
Sub-committee
Grants
Sub-Committee
NCRN
Sub-Committee
Annual Meeting
Translational Science
Session
Sub-Committee
Chethan P.
Venkatasubba Rao
Susanne
Muehlschlegel
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