News Archive

Congratulations to Dr. Jim Christenson, who recently received funding through the 2019 UBC Grants for Catalyzing Research Clusters (GCRC) competition. Dr. Christenson leads the Resuscitating More Patients from Sudden Unexpected Death: Transformative Research cluster. The cluster will receive $197,000 in GCRC funds and $30,000 in Trainee Stipend funds for two years.

Grants for Catalyzing Research Clusters funding enables the formation and growth of interdisciplinary clusters of research excellence. The funding rewards network of researchers spanning multiple disciplines. These interdisciplinary teams foster partnerships and collaborations, develop new research questions/directions/themes in research creation, address critical societal and cultural problems, and work together to solve challenges that transcend traditional boundaries.

The research cluster will focus on out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) aiming to improve patient outcomes, lead innovation in research and clinical interventions, strengthen the chain of survival from OHCA recognition to rehabilitation, and to create an internationally renowned Resuscitation Research Centre. The overall vision is for British Columbia to have the best survival rates in the world for out-of-hospital, sudden, unexpected death.

Learn more about Dr. Christenson’s research.

Congratulations to Drs. John Tallon, Rob Stenstrom, and David Sweet, part of a team receiving $1,140,000 in CIHR funding for the Canadian Sepsis Research Network project “Improving Care Before, During and After Sepsis”.

The project is led by PI Dr. Dr Alison Fox-Robichaud of McMaster University. The overall goal is to reduce sepsis-associated illness and death and to lessen the long-term impact of sepsis on patients and society. The stated vision is to reduce the incidence, financial and health impact of sepsis for all Canadians, adults and children by 30% in 2025.

Congratulations to the Canadian Sepsis Research Network team on moving forward with this important work!

Clinical Associate Professors Dr. David Sweet and Dr. Rob Stenstrom show for the first time evidence that early sampling of blood for microorganisms in sepsis is critical to treating the common and potentially fatal condition.

The five-year study (2013-2018) published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine involved 325 patients in seven hospitals (including Vancouver General, St. Paul’s, Lions Gate and Surrey Memorial) who arrived at the hospital complaining of sepsis-like symptoms such as increased heart rate, painful urination and confusion.

“In ED septic patients with hypotension or elevated lactate obtaining blood cultures soon after initiation of antibiotics results in a 50% loss of sensitivity. Even if all other culture results are considered (urine, sputum, etc.), 1/3 of the pathogens in the pre-antibiotic blood culture are never recovered.”, says Dr. David Sweet.

“In the last 15 years, there has been increasing emphasis on the importance of rapid administration of antibiotics in sepsis, potentially undervaluing the importance of obtaining blood cultures prior. Our study supports the need for resources and techniques in place to ensure that blood cultures are obtained before antibiotic initiation.”

View the full story from the UBC Faculty of Medicine.