The CNTR team at the booth (l to r): Pam Bixby, Michelle Price, Nick Medrano, and Lizette Villarreal.

At the annual meeting of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) in Boston this week, CNTR was a consistent presence. We chatted with investigators at our booth outside the exhibit hall, and showed up in lectures and in scientific presentation and poster sessions. In his address, Dr. Ronnie Stewart, a founding board member of the Trauma Research Institute of San Antonio Texas (TRISAT) [which became the National Trauma Institute (NTI), which became CNTR], counted the organization among his formative achievements.

AAST Scholarship recipient, Dr. Lacey LaGrone, gave CNTR credit as a key collaborator in the Design for Implementation: The Future of Trauma Clinical Guidance conference series, as well as in projects surrounding the conference that are designed to create a better way to share and use trauma clinical guidance when its most needed. CNTR has managed the conference series and is administering a Gates Foundation Grant that will help make an AI-enabled application a reality.

In his Fitts Lecture, titled “Forged in the Crucible of Life and Death: Built Upon Legacy and Bound by Mission,” Dr. Brian Eastridge displayed the CNTR logo when talking about his Multi-Institutional Multidisciplinary Injury Mortality Investigation in the Civilian Pre-Hospital Environment (MIMIC) project. CNTR managed this study, which examined 4,000 prehospital deaths to determine the rate of survivability.

Dr. Lacey LaGrone credits CNTR in her AAST scholarship presentation.

Finally, CNTR data analyst, Nick Medrano, presented a poster on his Geographical Information Systems (GIS) work with the Georgia Trauma Commission to map that state’s entire trauma system. The analysis enabled the commission to determine, in an environment of limited resources, which trauma center should be upgraded in order to improve access for the most people.

Dr. Brian Eastridge talks about the importance of the MIMIC project, managed by CNTR.