• Press Release

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Named to New NIH Stroke Research Network

Research collaborative network aims to expedite stroke clinical trials, build greater expertise in stroke.

  • New York
  • (December 20, 2013)

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai joins a top-flight network of 25 regional stroke centers announced by the National Institute of Health that will focus on prevention, treatment, and recovery from stroke. As part of the NIH Stroke Trials Network (NIHStrokeNet), the medical school will receive a 5-year, $1.3 million grant to build a collaborative research infrastructure for a regional coordinating stroke center.

"As conceived by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the network is intended to improve the efficiency with which we perform clinical trials in stroke," said Stanley Tuhrim, MD, one of principal investigators of the inaugural NYC Collaborative Stroke Center and Director of the Mount Sinai Stroke Center. "The goal of our effort is to pull together several major medical institutions in the City [Mount Sinai Health System, and several hospitals affiliated with Albert Einstein College of Medicine , and NYU School of Medicine] to perform clinical trials and develop and test ways of improving acute stroke treatment, prevention and rehabilitation he added. "We hope to be able to get trials done more expeditiously." To that end, the New York City Collaborative Regional Coordinating Center (NYCCRCC) will work with sister programs across the nation, the National Coordinating Center at the University of Cincinnati, and NINDS.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke will fund and manage the stroke network. NINDS has spearheaded advances in stroke prevention, treatment, and recovery.

The NYCC-RCC research team, working with the extended stroke community, will propose and conduct stroke protocols to be administered within the network and also train the next generation of clinical researchers in stroke. The network concept emerged from an NINDS planning effort in which stroke experts were asked what they viewed as most important in reducing death and disability due to stroke in the United States. Building a more seamless transition from safety and efficacy trials and phase II and III clinical trials was given top priority.

Earlier this year, Mount Sinai became the first medical center in New York State to be recognized by The Joint Commission with Disease-Specific Care Comprehensive Stroke Center Certification. The Certification recognizes those hospitals that have state-of-the-art infrastructure, staff, and training to treat patients with the most complex strokes.

A stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted, causing brain cells in the immediate area to die because they stop getting oxygen. Stroke can also occur when a vessel breaks and bleeds into the brain. Nearly 800,000 strokes are reported each year in the U.S.. NIH StrokeNet is focused on advancing the treatment of acute stroke, both ischemic and intracerebral strokes.


About the Mount Sinai Health System

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, over 400 outpatient practices, nearly 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time — discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.

Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,300 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals, receiving high "Honor Roll" status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the country’s best in several pediatric specialties.

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