Quarterly News Magazine
of the
Neurocritical Care Society
June, 2017
Volume 12 - Number 2
Editor-in-Chief
Saef Izzy, MD
Boston, MA
Editorial Board
Romergryko Geocadin, MD
Baltimore, MD
Ed Manno, MD
Chicago, IL
Mary Kay Bader, RN, MSN
Mission Viejo, CA
Brad Molyneaux, MD, PhD
Pittsburgh, PA
Fawaz Al-Mufti, MD
New York, NY
Aimee Aysenne, MD
New Orleans, LA
Chitra Venkatasubramanian, MD
Palo Alto, CA
Audrey Paulson, DNP
San Jose, CA
Kimberly Levasseur-Franklin,
PharmD
Boston, MA
Jose Suarez, MD
Houston, TX
Michael Rubin, MD
Dallas, TX
Jennifer Kim, MD, PhD
Boston, MA
Raimund Helbok, MD, PD
Innsbruck, Austria
Note From the Editor
Dear Colleagues,
I would like to welcome you to the second issue of Currents in 2017, the
official quarterly news magazine of NCS. This issue contains informative and
exciting news articles and features that are sure to educate and entertain you.
This year, the annual meeting will be taking place in Waikoloa on the Big
Island of Hawaii from Oct. 9-13. This issue of Currents contains detailed
announcements of the annual meeting program, keynote speakers, courses
and pre-meeting sessions. Check out Gretchen Brophy’s article on page 4 for
all of the details.
The Currents Editorial Board has been working hard to expand this quarterly magazine and grow
our national and international readership. We would like to build the Currents audience by
reaching readers from different critical care backgrounds around the world. At the international
level, we successfully launched the News from Europe Column, which is edited by Raimund
Helbok, MD, neurointensivists at Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria. Our next goal is
to launch other recurring columns to cover news from Asia, the Middle East, Africa and South
America. Any NCS member who would like to cover the news of these regions and would like to
participate in Currents is encouraged to contact me (email below).
In this issue, Jens Dreier and his colleagues highlighted the International Conference on Spreading
Depolarizations (iCSD) — and past COSBID — which was organized in Berlin, Germany in
March 2017. Their article provided very useful background and shared relevant video links of
spreading depolarization field, which I found very educational and entertaining.
Based on our readers’ feedback, the editor of our Ethics Column, Michael Rubin, decided to
continue the format of the column, which discusses recently published bioethics and palliative
care articles. In this issue of Currents, Michael invited Ariane Lewis, neurointensivist at New York
University, to brief us on three new studies focusing on end-of-life decision making, orders for lifesustaining
treatment and transplant ethics. We hope that you will find the content stimulating and
informative. Please continue to share your feedback and any interesting ethics-related publications
you have with Michael at michael.rubin@utsouthwestern.edu.
In this issue, you will also find an expanded version of NCS Member News section, which now
includes more of our members’ personal news and social events. If you have any news items,
please send them to NCS Secretary Mary Kay Bader at Badermk@aol.com.
Don’t miss out on the Pharmacy Column! Morgan Jones, a clinical pharmacy specialist in the
neurocritical care unit at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and a critically
ill patient’s family, shared their incredible neuro ICU experience, which emphasizes the value of
dedication, compassion, ethics and devotion. From the family: “Morgan was right there with us
the entire journey feeling our pain. Such personalized patient and family-centered care as he has
shown us is the epitome of a dedicated medical professional.”
In addition to our regular columns, this issue of Currents features many exciting news articles that
I highly recommend, including the first International Stroke and Neurocritical Care Symposium in
Kazakhstan, which was organized in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on March 28-30, 2017.
Finally, I would like to congratulate Jose Suarez, who has accepted the position of professor
and director of the Neurocritical Care Division at Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins
Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
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. 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 of this issue was submitted by Lauren Koffman, DO, MS, a
neurocritical care fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a very motivated
NCS Currents contributor. The photo was taken in Oahu during the 2017 Society for Critical
Care Medicine Annual Meeting. Lauren says about the photo: “This afternoon there had been
thunderstorms that happened to clear as we pulled up to Kailua Beach State Park. We started to
explore the beach and headed over toward Lanikai Beach where the trail head for the Pillbox Hike
began. The rain held out long enough for us to make it to the top and enjoy the spectacular view.”
As Lauren mentioned, the natural parks of Hawaii offer so many opportunities to take a break
from the meeting, de-stress and set the stage for memories of a lifetime. We are so excited to
celebrate the 15th anniversary of NCS and hope that we’ll be seeing you there!
Sincerely,
Saef Izzy
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