Continuum of Care in the Treatment of Hypoxic Ischemic Insults – 2024 Update
April 25-26, 2024
The Safar Symposium is an annual, two-day multi-departmental event at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine that honors the late resuscitation pioneer Dr. Peter Safar. It includes scientific sessions with renowned speakers in both resuscitation science and simulation crafted by the faculty of the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research and the Winter Institute for Simulation, Education, and Research, respectively. The annual Peter and Eva Safar Lecture for the Sciences and Humanities is also part of the program. The Symposium also includes a multi-departmental Trainees' Research Day session with poster and platform presentations by trainees from five departments, namely Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Neurological Surgery, and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.
42nd Peter and Eva Safar Lecture for the Sciences and Humanities
Dr. Clifton W. Callaway is Distinguished Professor, Vice-Chair, and Ronald D. Stewart Endowed Chair in Emergency Medicine Research at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He completed his MD and PhD in Neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego, followed by residency in Emergency Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. He has conducted basic laboratory investigations about cardiac resuscitation and about brain recovery after cardiac arrest.
With his partners in Pittsburgh, he developed a multidisciplinary clinical service to advance the care of patients after cardiac arrest, primarily by improving measurement and treatment of brain injury after cardiac arrest. The focus of this program has been that post-arrest patients require a multidisciplinary, multiorgan, and personalized approach. Callaway helps lead the clinical coordinating center for SIREN, a National Institutes of Health emergency research trial network of more than 75 medical centers designated to conduct clinical trials in acute care. Current SIREN clinical trials test treatments for traumatic brain injury, and adult and pediatric cardiac arrest.
Callaway is past chair of the American Heart Association Emergency Cardiovascular Care Committee (2015-2017), and past co-chair of the ILCOR Advanced Life Support Committee (2012-2016). He has contributed to advanced cardiac life support guidelines since 2008, particularly on post-cardiac arrest care, and has more than 470 peer-reviewed publications in the field.
21st Annual Safar Symposium Awards
Nancy Caroline Fellow Award Winner
Dr. Nancy Caroline, one of Dr. Safar’s early trainees who went on to become the mother of CPR in Israel, and later, the head of the Israeli Red Cross, died on December 12, 2002. In her honor, we have created the Nancy Caroline Fellow Award at the Safar Center. This award is given annually to the fellow working with a Safar Center Scientist who has made the greatest contribution to the field of resuscitation medicine.
2024 Winner: Caitlin McNamara, Clinical Instructor, Pediatric Critical Care Medicine & T32 Post Doctoral Scholar
S. William Stezoski Award for Technician Excellence at the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research
The late S. William (Bill) Stezoski, was the laboratory supervisor of the late Peter Safar for over 35 years. His work is notable for his contributions to the development of therapeutic hypothermia for the treatment of victims of hypoxic-ischemic brain injury resulting from cardiac arrest. Bill was an exceptional technician and scientist who contributed enormously to the many successes of the work of Dr. Safar and many other investigators in Pittsburgh. Remarkably, Bill, went on to achieve faculty status as a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
2024 Winner: Vincent Vagni, Critical Care Medicine Lab Manager
Safar Symposium Oral Presentation Winners
Eleni Moschonas, BS/BA, PhD(c), won for her oral presentation "Examining the Potential Efficacy of Chronic Galantamine on Attentional Function and Cholinergic Neurotransmission after Preclinical TBI"
Sarah Svirsky, PhD, won for her oral presentation "Synaptic Neurotransmission Protein Genotypes are Associated with PostTraumatic Epilepsy and Long-Term Outcome after Severe TBI"
Safar Symposium Abstract Presentation Winners
Sarvesh Acharya won for his abstract "Mast Cells and Vegfr2 Drive Chronic Pelvic Pain in a Mouse Model of Endometriosis"
Daniela V. Gil won for her abstract "Regulation of Ethanol Consumption by the LNCRNA MALAT1"
Ivan Saraiva won for his abstract “Abnormal Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Metabolism is Associated with a Phenotype with Marked Sepsis-Associated Acute Kidney Injury in Pediatric Sepsis”
Victor H. Wu won for his abstract "Predicting Core Temperature Changes Using Metabolic Rate and Total Heat Balance"
Eleni Moschonas won for her abstract "Cholinergic Neurotransmission During Performance of a Sustained Attention Task After TBI"