Miller School Experts in Therapeutic Hypothermia Reunite with Researchers from Japan
Article Summary
- Miller School researchers have an international presence as experts in therapeutic hypothermia.
- Drs. W. Dalton Dietrich and Helen Bramlett were keynote speakers at a symposium on the topic in Japan.
- The symposium gave them the opportunity to reunite with Japanese colleagues who had worked at The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.
For the last 30 years, Miller School faculty members have conducted seminal research on therapeutic hypothermia and targeted temperature management. This work laid the foundation for using temperature management to treat cardiac arrest, neurotrauma, stroke and other conditions.
In July, Helen Bramlett, Ph.D., professor of neurological surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and W. Dalton Dietrich, Ph.D., scientific director of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and professor of neurological surgery, neurology, biomedical engineering and cell biology at the Miller School, were keynote speakers at the 27th Japanese Therapeutic Hypothermia and Body Temperature Management Symposium.
Body Temperature’s Impact on Neurology
Drs. Bramlett and Dietrich lectured on the importance of temperature monitoring to promote neuroprotection and improve neurological outcomes. They were also reunited with several Japanese colleagues who had conducted research at The Miami Project over the past 25 years.
“It was amazing to meet these individuals after so many years and hear about their wonderful time in Miami and how much they benefited from their research experiences while working on spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and cerebral ischemia,” said Dr. Bramlett. “It was also exciting to hear about their own academic accomplishments since returning to Japan where many individuals that we remembered as junior researchers were now full professors and chairs of major clinical departments.”
The Japan-Miami Scientific Connection
Drs. Bramlett and Dietrich received several requests to bring Japanese junior faculty to Miami so this next generation of academic scholars could also benefit from the experience.
“These are young M.D.s interested in conducting high-quality brain and spinal cord injury research and learning modern experimental approaches in discovery and translational research,” said Dr. Dietrich. “They learn our preclinical models, master quantitative assessment strategies, write papers and develop other academic skills. When they return to Japan, they become leaders in neurotrauma research.”
Tags: cardiac arrest, Dr. Helen Bramlett, Dr. W. Dalton Dietrich III, hypothermia, neurological surgery, spinal cord injury, stroke, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, traumatic brain injury