Quarterly News Magazine
of the
Neurocritical Care Society
October, 2017
Volume 12 - Number 3
Editor-in-Chief
Saef Izzy, MD
Boston, MA
Editorial Board
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
Baltimore, MD
Michael Rubin, MD
Dallas, TX
Jennifer Kim, MD, PhD
Boston, MA
Raimund Helbok, MD, PD
Innsbruck, Austria
Masao Nagayama, MD, PhD,
FAAN, FJSIM
Shizuoka, Japan
Peter J. Papadakos, MD
Rochester, NY
Ciro Ramos-Estebanez, MD, PhD
Cleveland, OH
Note from the Editor
Dear Colleagues,
I would like to welcome you to the October issue of Currents, the official quarterly
news magazine of NCS. On behalf of NCS, I would like to welcome all of you to the
15th Annual NCS Meeting in Waikoloa, on the Big Island of Hawaii, which will take
place October 10-13. I wish all of you attending the conference a wonderful time!
This issue of Currents contains informative and exciting news articles and features
that are sure to educate and entertain you. This issue is available in multiple formats
for the NCS Annual Meeting, including the online magazine and the full-color print
edition, which you may or may not be reading at this moment.
As you know, this is the first meeting to be held in Hawaii. To make sure you get oriented about what
to explore on the Big Island, we invited Matthew Koenig, past editor-in-chief of Currents and a loyal
Hawaiian resident, to write an article about fun things to do on the island and give us tips on what to
explore in Mauna Kea and Kilauea. For more details check out the article on pages 5-6.
The Neurocritical Care Journal editor-in-chief position is in transition; I would like to express my sincere
appreciation to Eelco Wijdicks for his countless efforts to give the journal its healthy start. Thank you,
Eelco, for your work in sustaining the journal’s spirit and advancing its mission as it evolved into the
robust and significant publication it is today. I would also like to congratulate Dr. Michael Diringer, who
will be our next editor-in-chief, and wish him the best of luck in his new mission. Please read the NCS
President’s Announcements on page 7.
The Currents Editorial Board has been operating hard to expand this quarterly magazine and grow our
national and international readership. Our theme for this issue is “International Neurocritical Care,”
and we included articles from Japan, Nepal, Cambodia, Chile, Ecuador, and Germany. We were also
successful in starting new sections including European, South American, and Asian corners, as well as
Stories of Hope and Neurocritical Care Fellowship Alumni sections. I would like to congratulate the
whole Currents team for these exciting achievements and commend them on their commitment and
extraordinary dedication.
To achieve our international mission, we started recurring columns to cover news from Asia, South
America, and Europe, and it is with excitement that I announce new additions to the Currents family.
Please join me in welcoming our new editorial board members:
Editor of Asian corner: Masao Nagayama, MD, PhD, FAAN, FJSIM, Professor of Neurology, Department of
Neurology, International University of Health and Welfare, School of Medicine, Atami, Shizuoka, Japan.
Editor of European corner: Raimund Helbok, MD, PD, Medical University of Innsbruck, Department of
Neurology, Neurocritical Care Unit, Austria, Europe.
Editor of South American corner: Ciro Ramos-Estebanez, MD, PhD, Neurocritical Care and Stroke
Divisions, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Clinic, Ohio.
Editor of NCS Advocacy corner: Peter J. Papadakos, MD, University of Rochester Medical Center, School
of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York.
In this issue, Michael Reznik, who is currently an Assistant Professor of Neurology, Alpert Medical
School, Brown University/Rhode Island Hospital, and a very active member of NCS, joined the Currents
family as an invited guest writer and editor for the Stories of Hope section. Please refer to pages 33-34
to read our first inspiring Story of Hope written by Alexandra Reynolds, who is currently a Neurocritical
Care Fellow at Columbia University/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Our future goal is to start a recurring
section where we can share some stories of hope that come from the perspective of the medical
community and also from patients and family members. Please send Michael your stories at michael_
reznik@brown.edu and make the voices of your patients inspire all of us!
Don’t miss out on the Pharmacy Column! Marcial Cariqueo Arriagada, a critical care pharmacist
practicing at Hospital Clínico Universidad de Chile, wrote about the clinical pharmacy practice in Chile
and highlighted the role of pharmacists in neurocritical care, which I found very motivating. To learn
more about the pharmacy practice outside the U.S., please refer to page 26.
In addition to our regular columns, this issue of Currents features many exciting news articles that
I highly recommend, including “Neurocritical Care in Nepal,” by Gentle S. Shrestha; “Houston in
the Wake of Hurricane Harvey: How NCS Can Help,” by Jose I. Suarez, MD; and “Neurocritical Care
Fellowship: Where Are They Now,” by Lauren Koffman, DO, MS.
On the cover: The cover art of this issue was submitted by Lauren Koffman, DO, MS, Assistant Professor
of Neurology and Neurosurgery at Rush University Medical Center and a very motivated Currents
contributor. Lauren says about the photo: “Summers in Chicago are a particular time, with festivals and
events happening nearly every weekend. Not only are there events throughout the city but along the
lake as well, with miles of lakefront trails to stroll, run, or bicycle along. One hot summer afternoon I
bicycled along the lake to Navy Pier, and this picture was taken from a ship as we sailed out onto the lake
to view the airshow. It captures the beautiful Chicago skyline in the background. If only Chicago weather
was like this year long!”
We are so excited to celebrate the 15th anniversary of NCS and hope that we will be seeing you in Hawaii!
Sincerely,
Saef Izzy
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