For many, September marks the end of summer and the start of the academic school year. For MCIRCC, patients and families are the heart of our motivations, and so September stands for Sepsis Awareness Month--a time to reflect on what sepsis is, what it does and how we can make a difference and save lives.

Sepsis is a complex health condition that affects over one million Americans per year, results in 250,000 annual deaths, and represents the highest annual treatment cost in U.S. hospitals at $20.3 billion.

Unlike other health problems, sepsis is a deadly medical condition, not a disease. Sepsis is what happens when the body's natural response to infection or other insult becomes unbalanced, runs out of control, and leads to multiple organ damage--essentially "friendly fire" within the body. And because sepsis is rooted in this natural response, certain processes associated with sepsis must occur to keep the body's biology intact. In fact, past solutions that have attempted to block such natural processes have resulted in poor patient outcomes.

One could argue that the sepsis problem will not be solved by continuing to treat it like a pathogen or to rely on protocol-driven interventions, but instead, by focusing on re-balancing the body's system for return to normal using creative approaches to precision medicine.

MCIRCC's Grand Challenge: changing the research paradigm to cure sepsis
MCIRCC's heightened interest in sepsis began in January 2014 with the kickoff of its first Grand Challenge program which targeted the deadly condition. The Grand Challenge supports milestone-driven research with the goal of finding the "game changers" that demonstrate the greatest clinical and market potential.

Recognizing the need to revolutionize sepsis care and treatment at the patient bedside, MCIRCC's Grand Challenge strategy focused on three core requirements to de-risk the science:

• Solve a pervasive and urgent problem that will improve patient outcomes at reduced costs with the visionary end-goal of curing sepsis.
• Form integrative teams comprised of clinicians and engineers to close the gap between scientific research, clinical workflow and patient care delivery.
• Merge innovative, world-class research with commercialization fundamentals to attract industry partners for speed to market strategies.

As you know, things are always evolving at MCIRCC and this announcement is no different. MCIRCC is at once saddened and delighted to announce the retirement of its Managing Director Janene Centurione and the hiring of her successor Phil Jacokes.

 

Over the past two-plus years, Janene has been a tremendous colleague and trailblazer in taking MCIRCC from vision to reality. Under her leadership, MCIRCC has established and strategically focused its unique infrastructure to meet the growing needs of our multidisciplinary research teams. Major accomplishments and growth this past year alone include:

• Launch of the Proposal Development Unit
• Development of the Big Data Analytic Pilot Platform (Project AHI)
• Development of the Critical Care Data Mart
• Formation of strategic partnerships with industry, the Department of Defense, and donors to support translational research in the critical care space
• Development and launch of the MCIRCC Virtual Institute
• Maturation of the Sepsis Grand Challenge technology portfolio

 

Concurrently, MCIRCC is pleased to announce that Phil Jacokes has joined MCIRCC as the new Managing Director and is currently working alongside the entire MCIRCC Catalyst Team and scientific leadership.

 

Phil is a highly seasoned executive with a strong background in operations leadership and cutting-edge software/technology products, with first-hand experience in successfully starting, building and growing profitable organizations. A proven, collaborative leader and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience, Phil is ready to apply his expertise, skills and creative problem solving to help take MCIRCC to the next level. Phil earned his M.B.A. from Wayne State University and is a U-M alum where he received his B.A. in Communication.

 

Janene will be here until the end of September, working with Phil to support an orderly and smooth transition to maintain MCIRCC's current momentum. Then, starting in October, Janene will support MCIRCC as a strategic advisor with Phil taking ownership of his new role to impact the delivery of new critical care solutions and products to improve patient outcomes at reduced costs, both here at U-M and in the broader world with our strategic partners.

 

MCIRCC wishes Janene the best in her new adventures and welcomes Phil to the team. As always, thank you for your continued support as we work together to change the face of critical care medicine.