Stroke Tank winner at NECC Summit honored

The 13th Annual Summit of the NorthEast Cerebrovascular Consortium (NECC) was held Thursday, October 25th and Friday, October 26th at the Newport Marriott in Rhode Island. Stroke Tank winner at NECC Summit honored

On Friday, a popular feature at last year’s summit was back –  Stroke Tank: Pitch it to the Judges! ™, a play off the hit ABC television show “Shark Tank.”

Four previously funded grant researchers presented their proposals addressing transitions of care across the stroke systems of care continuum.

The winner was Dr. David Lin, a Clinical Fellow of Neurology, Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Last year’s winner of Stroke Tank, also works at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Lin’s pitch was defining stroke recovery across the post-acute care continuum.

His research proposal is here: Recovery of arm weakness after stroke is critical for functional independence. Clinical, neuroimaging (i.e. MRI), and neurophysiological (i.e. transcranial magnetic stimulation, TMS) assessments are being developed to provide predictions of upper extremity motor recovery after stroke. However, not all clinical centers have access to the technology required, and unpredictable length of stay and follow-up in the current post-acute care continuum make validation of these predictors challenging. More detailed, longitudinal predictors of upper extremity motor impairment, as well as an understanding of how recovery generalizes across International Classification of Functioning (ICF) domains, are needed to accurately capture stroke outcomes and better personalize rehabilitation. The proposed work will lead to a predictive algorithm for upper extremity impairment after stroke and a comprehensive understanding of how recovery of arm weakness affects outcomes and patient quality of life.

 Other participants were Sonia Mehta, MS, with the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, pitching a High Intensity Tel-speech Therapy for Stroke.

 Another Stroke Tank participant was Christopher Zammit, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Rochester. Dr. Zammit’s pitch was about a regional system of care to rapidly and efficiently identify and treat all large vessel occlusions eligible for mechanical thrombectomy.

 Dr. Joel Stein, MD – Simon Baruch Professor & Chair,  Department of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine, Columbia University, also took part. He pitched the factors influencing post-acute discharge destinations, and the best road to recovery.

 Votes from participants at the NECC along with an expert panel of judges decided which proposal would receive additional funding to expand upon their original proposal. 

 The judges included Nina Gentile, MD, James Grotta, MD, Judith Lichtman, PhD, MPH, FAHA, Timothy G. Lukovits, MD, and Kori Zachrison, MD, MSc, the winner of the 2017 Stroke Tank: Pitch it to the Judges! Dr. Zachrison works as an Assistant Professor at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

To improve stroke care in eight states (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont) the NECC was established as an independent organization in 2006.

This year’s two-day event is hosted by the NECC along with the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

 For more information about the summit go to thenecc.org

 

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