Phillip A. Scott, MD, MBA

As the originator of the acute stroke team at the University of Michigan, I have been extensively involved with clinical stroke research for 25 years. Over that period, our team has developed a comprehensive, multispecialty approach to the treatment of patients with cerebrovascular disease. This effort extensively involves emergency medicine, neurology, neurosurgery, radiology, interventional neuroradiology, neuro-intensivists, rehabilitation and partners from multiple other disciplines within the health system. Our system has demonstrated ability not only within the walls of the hospital, but also the ability to design, implement and conduct research in the community and regional settings to enhance stroke care access and knowledge among patients and external providers – from their homes, to the streets (EMS), to the hospitals. My background in recruiting, developing, and implementing multidisciplinary systems and teams for the delivery of acute stroke care and NIH-supported research across multiple clinical trials over the past two decades provides key insights into the proposed research platform. I have personally participated in over 35 clinical trials, serving as site principal investigator in over ten and as the overall principal investigator in seven. I was the Principal Investigator on the INSTINCT Trial (RO1 NS050372) examining methods to enhance stroke systems of care. That experience, along with my background in clinical trial development, engineering, and newer business and marketing expertise, provide a tremendous foundation for the STEP program. My research involvement has focused on clinical trial work in: 1) development of population- and systems-based approaches to acute stroke care and research, particularly focusing on community delivery of acute stroke care (second-stage knowledge translation) 2) hyper-acute, thrombolytic, based stroke treatment strategies, 3) efforts to extend stroke treatment via neuronal protection mechanisms (both pharmacologic and hypothermic), 4) the development of mechanical-based clot removal and lysis in stroke, 5) methods to enhance treatment for subarachnoid hemorrhage care via hypothermia, 6) primary stroke prevention via enhanced identification of atrial fibrillation. My work has been extensively funded by the NIH and I have led and/or participated in numerous consortia, multicenter clinical trials, and trial networks, including: INSTINCT (PI: RO1 NS050372), SPOTRIAS (P50 NS044283, NETT (U01 NS056975) and STROKENET (co-PIs with Dr. Brown: U10 NS086526). In August, 2013 my mother suffered a large and debilitating stroke which was not treated effectively due to the time limitations of therapy at that time. During my subsequent partial sabbatical, I obtained an advanced business degree from the University of Michigan with the intent of applying the science of enhancing system efficiency and marketing promotion to clinical trial findings in order to accelerate uptake of research results by healthcare provider and patient populations. I believe the STEP program will greatly enhance our ability as scientists and clinicians to rapidly improve systems to reduce the burden of stroke on our communities and may be leveraged to reduce and eliminate barriers to broad community implementation of new results.