The Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, has been awarded $38.6 million by the Peer-Reviewed Orthopaedic Research Program (PRORP) of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to expand its Major Extremity Trauma Research Consortium (METRC).
The Consortium, established in September 2009 with an initial DoD award of $18 million, conducts multi-center studies relevant to the treatment and outcomes of major orthopedic injuries sustained on the battlefield. According to a JHU press release, the additional funding allows for growth in the size of the Consortium and in the scope of its research, including the prevention of bone infection, chronic pain, and overall disability.
The Bloomberg School is the coordinating center for the Consortium that includes a network of core civilian trauma centers working together with the major military medical centers that provide treatment to service members who sustain major trauma while on active duty. Under this new award, the number of core civilian centers will increase from 12 to 24. An additional 30 satellite trauma centers around the country have pledged support for the Consortium and are ready to participate in one or more of the studies sponsored under its umbrella.
Michael Bosse, MD, of Carolinas Medical Center, chair of the Consortium and co-principal investigator, said that by increasing the number of centers ” [the Consortium] will be in an even better position to deliver on our goal of establishing treatment guidelines for the optimal care of the wounded warrior and improve the outcomes of both service members and civilians who sustain serious injury to the extremities.”
“The results of our studies are likely to change [orthopedic trauma care] practices,” said Joseph Wenke, MD, of the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and the Consortium program manager.
For more information on METRC, see www.metrc.org
