Research Learning Series (RLS): Conducting Randomized Trials in the Emergency Department

Dr. Nicholas Caputo is an Attending Physician and Physician Advisor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at NYC H+H/Lincoln Medical Center in the South Bronx. He is currently an Associate Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University and also an attending emergency physician at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center/New York Presbyterian Hospital. He is the Director of Urgent Care and Home Services for Atria, a concierge service in Manhattan. Dr. Caputo is board certified in Emergency Medicine. He completed his internship in General Surgery at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan, his residency training in Emergency Medicine at NYC H+H/Lincoln, where he served as a Chief Resident and his Fellowship training in Critical Care/Retrieval Medicine at Royal Darwin Hospital/Careflight in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Dr. Caputo is widely published in emergency medicine and his research seeks to understand the evidence behind the conventional wisdom practiced in emergency departments across the world in order to determine the efficacy of current management strategies (such as preoxygenation in RSI, apneic oxygenation during intubation, non-invasive markers for occult shock) in order to improve safety and quality outcomes for patients. He focuses jointly on medical pathology and socioeconomic disparities in medicine. Dr. Caputo also serves as a Major in the United States Army Reserve, currently assigned to the 947th Forward Resuscitative and Surgical Team based in West Hartford, CT. He returned from a deployment to Mogadishu, Somalia with Joint Special Operations Task Force-East Africa in combat support of Naval Special Warfare/Navy SEALs.

William Meurer, MD, MS is currently Professor of Emergency Medicine and Neurology at the University of Michigan – Michigan Medicine. He also serves as a Medical/Statistical Scientist for Berry Consultants. He works to improve the care of patients with acute neurological disease both through his work on the acute stroke team and as a researcher. His work in the field focuses on the design of clinical trials with adaptive and flexible components. In addition, he is a principal investigator of the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Clinical Trials Methodology Course (http://neurotrials.training) and a co-investigator in the clinical coordinating center of the Strategies to Innovate Emergency Clinical Care Trials (SIREN) network - also funded by NIH). He is a co-investigator on StrokeNET trials underway through the Michigan Regional Coordinating Center. He formerly served as the Emergency Medical Director of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Stroke Center.

He is principal investigator of NIH funded trials that include an ED based text messaging intervention for hypertension and a cluster randomized trial to improve the care of patients with acute dizziness. In addition, he is the national PI of a 50+ site, 1,800 patient trial of hypothermia after adult cardiac arrest (http://icecaptrial.org) – in addition he serves as a PI for a 40+ site international 900 patient trial of hypothermia after pediatric cardiac arrest.

He attended college at the Ohio State University, medical school at the University of Cincinnati, residency at MetroHealth/Cleveland Clinic and then came to Michigan for his stroke fellowship in 2006. During that fellowship he received an MS in clinical research design and statistical analysis from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He has authored or coauthored over 135 original publications - journals represented include JAMA. He is a core-faculty member for the University of Michigan/St. Joseph Mercy Residency. In addition, he serves clinically both the in the Emergency Department and with the University of Michigan Stroke Team – both providing care at Michigan and across a variety of partner hospitals via telemedicine.