As a neurointensivist, I am interested in improving our ability to monitor brain function and impact of therapy on our patients in the critical care setting. To this end I am developing new approaches to patient monitoring that will integrate patient physiologic monitoring with brain activity recorded by electroencephalography (EEG). On the basic science side I am interested in the central nervous system's response to injury. Although much attention has been focused on closed head injury as of late, stroke and brain hemorrhage are just as common in the civilian population and pose many of the same clinical challenges as traumatic brain injury. Using mouse models of clinically relevant brain injury, including models of stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage, lobar hemorrhage, closed head injury and penetrating brain injury, we can explore the key molecular events that lead to edema, secondary brain injury, hyperexcitability and epilepsy, and other sequelae which contribute to poor patient recovery, and significant morbidity following brain injury. By investigating the underlying mechanisms that contribute to these adaptive changes using electrophysiology and molecular biology approaches we can then find ways to prevent them from becoming maladaptive and develop new therapies for our patients with head injuries.
