NCS Leadership
2016-2017
Officers
Michel Torbey, MD, President
Gretchen Brophy, PharmD,
Vice President
Jose Suarez, MD, Treasurer
Mary Kay Bader, MSN, CNS, Secretary
Ed Manno, MD,
Immediate Past President
Board of Directors
Neeraj Badjatia, MD
Jordan Bonomo, MD
Julian Bösel, MD
Marion Buckwalter, MD, PhD
Guadalupe Castillo-Abrego, MD
Sherry Chou, MD
W. David Freeman, MD
Jennifer Frontera, MD
David Greer, MD
Theresa Human, PharmD
John Lewin, PharmD
Chad Miller, MD
Susanne Muehlschlegel, MD
Paul Nyquist, MD
Kristine O’Phelan, MD
Fred Rincon, MD
David Seder, MD
Kevin Sheth, MD
Lori Shutter, MD
Wade Smith, MD, PhD
Panayiotis Varelas, MD, PhD
Susan Yeager, NP, RN
Executive Director
Dale West
Editor-in-Chief,
Neurocritical Care
Eelco Wijdicks, MD, PhD
Neurocritical Care Society
330 N. Wabash Ave., Suite 2000
Chicago, IL 60611
Phone: (312) 321-5159
Fax: (312) 673-6759
Website: www.neurocriticalcare.org
Email: info@neurocriticalcare.org
NCS: A Teenager and Growing Fast
Michel T. Torbey, MD, MPH, FAHA, FCCM, FNCS
President
Dear Colleagues:
It’s almost here! The Annual Meeting and the 15-year anniversary of the society. Can you believe it?
Time flies when you are having fun. As I was writing this message, I Googled parenting tips for raising
a 15-year-old to see what wise words the Internet has on the subject. Below are four tips I found that
are readily applicable to our society:
1) Be aware of body image issues: One of the society’s main goals since its inception has been to
support a multidisciplinary approach to patient management. As we get ready to welcome our first
non-physician president, I think we can all agree that we are doing this successfully. However, one
of the image issues I feel we continue to struggle with is defining what a neurocritical care practice
should be. Some feel that a neurointensivist should focus solely on taking care of the critically ill in
the ICU, while others believe we should not restrict ourselves. Most intensivists in other specialties
have additional non-ICU practices, with pulmonary critical care medicine and trauma surgical critical
care as two examples. Several neurology-specific specialties are a natural extension of the neurocritical
care unit, such as EEG, clinical neurophysiology, sleep medicine, stroke, intraoperative monitoring,
neuroanesthesiology, and endovascular, to name a few. I am not sure what the right answer is, but as
a society we should start planning strategically for the next 15 years with an open mind and an eye on
the changes coming in health care.
2) Encourage healthy habits: Although most of us think we are super humans and expert multitaskers,
we need to acknowledge that burnout is real. It is one of the crises we need to address as a
society. We have set aside some time at the Annual Meeting to address leadership development and
team building as first steps, but I believe we will need to do more.
3) Emphasize safety issues: Quality of the care we provide is going to be key in the next 15 years. As
payment for health care continues to change, we must not only claim to provide better care but also
deliver on that claim. Currently NCS is working on a white paper defining the infrastructure needs of
a neurocritical care unit and a quality metrics guideline in the Neuro ICU. Our newly formed Quality
Committee has been very busy planning a list of quality projects for NCS to embark on.
4) Encourage healthy relationships: Professionalism is key. Learning the skills of team building
and collaboration is important for the success of our individual programs. We interact with so many
specialties; we need to all play in the sand together for the benefit of our patients.
As our society has grown, the Neurocritical Care Journal has also seen amazing parallel growth.
Since its first published issue in March 2004, the journal continues to thrive. Under the leadership
of Eelco Wijdicks, we have seen an increase in the impact factor from 0.5 in 2005 to 2.752 in 2017.
Eelco dedicated 10 years of his career to ensuring the journal was not just successful but a top-rated
publication in the field of critical care. Unfortunately, in the words of Heraclitus, “There is nothing
permanent except change.” Eelco felt that it is time for him to transition the journal to a new editorin
chief. We will forever be indebted to him for all the efforts and hard work he put into the journal.
I fully believe we would not be here without him. If you see Eelco during the Annual Meeting, please
make sure you thank him for all his efforts.
I hope to see you all at the Annual Meeting in Waikoloa, Hawaii. Come help us celebrate our 15th
anniversary!
Best regards,
Best regards,
Michel T. Torbey, MD, MPH, FAHA, FCCM, FNCS
President
PRESIDENT’S COLUMN
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