$6.2 million grant to fund Center for Perioperative Mental Health (Links to an external site)

clinician cares for older patient

Clinicians and researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have received a four-year, $6.2 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to launch a center designed to help improve mental health in surgery patients, particularly older surgery patients. The center will conduct studies to identify and treat depression and anxiety in surgical patients. This new center is the first NIH-funded center of its kind in the United States.

New findings published from large-scale African research initiative into post-operative mortality

Research publication in Lancet

The ASOS-2 project was a response to the findings in ASOS-1, that African surgical patients are twice as likely to die in the hospital after surgery than the international average. The project aimed to shift the limited existing resources available for postoperative surveillance towards those patients at higher risk of developing postoperative complications. 

$33 million to support study comparing anesthetic medications (Links to an external site)

propofol vs. inhaled anesthetic drugs

Funded by a $33 million grant from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), a new study led by Michael Avidan, MBBCh, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Sachin Kheterpal, MD, of the University of Michigan, will compare intravenous propofol to inhaled anesthetic drugs to determine which of the common anesthetic drugs offers better patient recovery experiences and improved clinical outcomes.