The Science of Saving Lives…
With a focus on the resuscitation and stabilization of combat casualties, from frontline points of care through definitive surgical capability, the CTRG conducts primary benchtop and pre-clinical research for the development and optimization of advanced therapeutics and drug products as well as product evaluation to improve survivability of expeditionary warfighters.
The CTRG originated in 2004 from a pilot study by Dr. Jose Henao, who studied how treatment with the exothermic first-generation hemostatic agent QuikClot damaged healthy tissue in combat wounds.
Although this study was unpublished, it spurred excitement from several members of the Emergency Medicine Department, leading to a follow-up study by Dr. Buddy Kozen, which was published in Academic Emergency Medicine.
The group was originally called the Hemostatic Agent Working Group (HAWG) and included three members: one ER staff member, one resident per year, and one lab assistant.
In 2007, HAWG expanded their research scope and rebranded as the Combat Trauma Research Group.
CTRG focuses on evaluating problems and knowledge gaps centered on Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC).
One unique aspect of CTRG is the extensive involvement of full time clinical faculty, most of its members having had recent and extensive operational experience, giving them direct insight into issues facing casualty care and laying the framework for research questions and protocols.
The group’s findings have directly influenced and supported changes to the Committee on TCCC’s official guidelines. CTRG’s research allows Residents and Staff to have a direct and meaningful impact on pre-hospital, enroute, and in-hospital military medicine.
In the sixteen years since it was founded, the CTRG has grown to includes residents and staff from the Departments of Emergency Medicine, Surgery, Radiology, Orthopedics, Anesthesiology, En Route Care Nursing and Critical Care.
As of June 2020, the CTRG has 21 active protocols, 9 protocols in development, and over $2.2 million in recent appropriations for combat trauma research.
The CTRG’s work is frequently presented at regional and national conferences and has been earn innumerable awards; most notably receiving the Defense Health Agency’s Award for Research Accomplishment (Large Team category), the highest medical research award offered in the US military, in both 2018 and 2020.
The Combat Research Trauma Group continues to grow both in scope and magnitude, developing multi-institutional collaborations with other military and civilian academic institutions and entities in order to continue in its mission to preserve life on the battlefield.
CTRG’s current protocols include investigations into pharmaceuticals, hemostatic agents, wound closure devices, transfusion safety, device assessment, and hemostasis during transport. The group continues to focus primarily on translation research models as well as end-user training protocols and therapeutic effectiveness. The CTRG takes research questions directly from operational units and knowledge gaps identified by the CoTCCC and other specialty working groups.
The multi-disciplinary research group comprised of Critical Wartime Specialties continues to strive towards a goal that has not changed since the inception of the first pilot study in 2004, to protect, enhance, and restore the health and safety of America’s Warfighters.
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