No images? Click here January 2021 ResearchNot surprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted clinical and translational research across our Department. Following Institutional guidelines, all research activities within PM&R that involved person-to-person contact were paused from March 17 through July 31, 2020. Thanks to the amazing flexibility and efforts of our clinical research staff and faculty, most of our prospective human research studies have resumed and are currently enrolling patients. Some of these studies are highlighted below: Since August 1, five healthy control study participants have enrolled into our NIH-funded study entitled “Ischemic Conditioning and Improved Motor Function Post Stroke,” which is a multi-institutional project that is examining the effects of ischemic conditioning on motor and cardiovascular function in chronic stroke survivors. This project is a collaboration between Dr. Matt Durand and Dr. Allison Hyngstrom from the Department of Physical Therapy at Marquette University. Each study participant is required to complete twenty study visits, averaging three visits to Marquette’s campus per week. Thanks to the dedication of our study participants, our team completed all 100 visits for these five participants between August and December. The Stroke Survivor Recruitment Database resumed recruitment in September 2020. Since that time, eighteen stroke survivors have been consented from the PM&R outpatient clinic and the PM&R and Neurology inpatient units. This powerful recruitment tool is currently accessed by approximately twenty studies and holds 314 records! Please reach out to Dr. Durand if you would like to access the SSRD for recruitment support. On September 30, enrollment began for a randomized, controlled, double-blinded clinical trial entitled “Botulinum Toxin A for Chemotherapy Induced Neuropathy.” The Principal Investigators for this study are Drs. Erin Beddows and Erin McGonigle, and it is a partnership with Drs. Christopher Chitambar and Sailaja Kamaraju from MCW’s Cancer Center. To date, six study participants have been enrolled. This study focuses on breast cancer survivors who have been experiencing neuropathy due to chemotherapy. The participants are not only excited to be a part of the study, but also the team's joy who had made such heartwarming connections with them. Recruitment for another NIH-funded clinical trial entitled “Prehabilitation of Frail Surgical Cancer Patients using Remote Ischemic Preconditioning” also resumed, and two patients have been consented in the last month. This study enrolls elderly patients who have been diagnosed with colon cancer that are scheduled for curative resection of the cancer. These patients have decreased physical fitness, and this study aims to determine if prehabilitation with remote ischemic conditioning can improve physical fitness in the preoperative period. This project is co-directed by Dr. Durand and Dr. Julie Freed from the Department of Anesthesiology. Drs. Carrie Peterson and Kirk Ludwig from the Department of Surgery and Dr. Sergey Tarima from the Division of Biostatistics are study Co-Investigators. In addition to the sizeable task of resuming prospective human research during the COVID-19 pandemic, our faculty and trainees have remained dedicated to our research mission. Since March of 2020, members of our Department have:
Our research team is so thankful for everyone’s efforts as we have adjusted to the “new normal,” and we look forward to a productive and exciting year in 2021. Congratulations Dr. Matt Durand on his recent publication "Two-Weeks of Remote Ischemic Conditioning Improves Brachial Artery Flow Mediated Dilation in Chronic Stroke Survivors," selected as best manuscript of the month in the Journal of Applied Physiology. It will be featured in APSselect and is the second manuscript from this project to be highlighted in this way. Congratulations to the following Faculty and Residents for their poster presentations at the November 2020 AAPM&R Annual Meeting:
Farewell Dr. SepahpanahDr. Sep's MCW journey began the day he picked Dr. Lee up at the Seattle Airport. He drove to downtown Seattle and stopped at Pike Place Market. Dr. Lee wanted a picture taken of a fisherman throwing him a fish and did a good job capturing the moment. The fish flew across the table and Dr. Lee caught the fish! During this visit, Dr. Lee invited Dr. Sep to Milwaukee for interviews. A couple of months later, he gave his lecture on “Fertility in Spinal Cord Injured patients” at Froedtert. Dr. Sep remembers Drs. Waring and Dillingham excited about the topic and asking several questions about spinal cord fertility. In June 2004, Dr. Sep started his very first job as an attending at MCW and the VA. Rounding with the residents in the morning was fun! It was so amazing to see how welcoming everybody was and everyone tried to help him. That was the moment when he realized that it was the right place to start his career. The Department's residency programs grew to be one of the best in the country and have trained and continues to train some of the best physiatrists in the country. There are so many fun and exciting moments in the last sixteen years of his career at MCW, but the highlight of it was when Dr. Braza asked him to be the Residency Program Director: "That was truly an honor and great privilege and gave me such confidence that I can achieve anything in my life." This November the chief of staff at the Memphis VAMC asked Dr. Sep to help him rebuild their spinal cord unit. He knew this would be a huge undertaking, but he feels confident that he can rise up to the challenge. He is so excited for this new opportunity to further his experience and career. Dr. Sepahpanah is grateful beyond words for the many career opportunities provided at the Zablocki VAMC, Froedtert and MCW and the lifelong-lasting friendships cultivated through these years. Have news to share with your PM&R colleagues? We would love to hear from you for our next issue, so please email any recent publications, awards, presentations, shout-outs, etc. to Beatriz Envila at benvila@mcw.edu. Medical College of Wisconsin | 8701 Watertown Plank Road | Milwaukee, WI 53226 Connect to MCW on Social |