VCU news

By Anne Dreyfuss
C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research

On Monday, Oct. 24, in a historic occasion for the medical field of resuscitation research, Virginia Commonwealth University celebrated the grand opening of the Weil Institute of Emergency and Critical Care Research at VCU. 

“The Weil Institute is one of the premier basic science laboratories in the world for critical care and resuscitation science, and we are humbled that they have chosen to join us as partners at VCU,” Joseph Ornato, M.D., said to the crowd of about 100 people who gathered at the Hermes A. Kontos Medical Sciences Building on the MCV Campus to celebrate the event. Ornato, who will serve as co-deputy director of the institute, was joined by VCU students, faculty and staff, as well as members of the local emergency medical services community and the family of institute founder Max Harry Weil, M.D., Ph.D.

Earlier this year, the Weil Institute dissolved its international headquarters in Southern California and re-established in Richmond at VCU. It is widely regarded as the premier basic science cardiopulmonary resuscitation research laboratory in the world, with staff performing research on a broad area of emergency medicine and critical care topics. Current research focuses on improving outcomes of CPR, circulatory shock, life-threatening heart failure, acute lung failure and overwhelming infections that produce septic shock. The institute is also making significant advances in life-sustaining medical technology. 

“[Dr. Weil] would have been proud to see what the next step is for the Weil Institute,” said the institute founder’s widow Marianne Posner. 

The Weil Institute and VCU share significant values around bidirectional translational research.

Initiatives such as VCU’s Advanced Resuscitation, Cooling Therapeutics and Intensive Care program attracted the Weil Institute to the university. The program that was developed at VCU uses advanced resuscitation techniques and therapeutic hypothermia to improve patient outcomes following cardiac arrest. World-class emergency medical services provided by Richmond Ambulance Authority and the surrounding county ambulatory services also attracted the institute.

“The Weil Institute and VCU share significant values around bidirectional translational research,” said VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D. “We are in a position to be the world’s premier critical care and resuscitation research institution.” 

In February 2016, an independent think tank chaired by VCU President Emeritus Eugene P. Trani, Ph.D., published a report titled “Richmond’s Future.” The extensive report includes data analysis on the Richmond metropolitan area, an interpretation on that data and recommendations for the city’s future. The think tank’s health care task force, which met continuously from 2010 to 2015, recommended that Richmond build upon the existing nationally recognized research in emergency medical services that already occurs at VCU. It encouraged the economic development offices in the region to collaborate on a strategy to target businesses that supply and conduct emergency medical research services. 

“We clearly are now in a position to seize on this grand opportunity,” said Francis L. Macrina, Ph.D., vice president for research and innovation at VCU. 

At the event, Rao noted that the institute’s opening advances a significant goal of the university’s strategic plan, which is to be the premier urban public research university of the 21st century.

“The Weil Institute belongs at VCU,” he said. “Time will prove that.” 

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