MaineHealth has been awarded a five-year, $13.2 million Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grant by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health. The funding will be used to further develop the COBRE in Acute Care Research and Rural Health established by the MaineHealth Institute for Research (MHIR) five years ago to improve research and rural health outcomes in diseases such as cardiac arrest, stroke, opioid use disorder, schizophrenia and newborn resuscitation.

Over the past five years, MHIR has established a statewide research and care network to address barriers associated with limited resources, expertise and access in rural areas.

"These additional funds will allow MHIR to maintain that strong foundation while supporting the early careers of additional promising clinician-scientists, building on research projects currently underway and further developing MaineHealth’s research facilities, support services, data management capacity, and national collaborations," said MaineHealth, in a news release.

“We are excited about the progress we made in our first five years in helping our junior faculty develop while building academic relationships with collaborators across the country through this acute care COBRE,” said Dr. David Seder, Susie Konkel and Jamie Konkel, Chairman of Critical Care Services at MaineHealth Maine Medical Center Portland and the Principal Investigator of the grant. “This new funding will provide direct health and economic benefits to the state of Maine as we leverage the relationships we developed to further our investigators’ current research and mentor the next generation of scientists.”

Among the new projects being funded through this grant is a study that aims to improve how patients with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) are treated while in the intensive care unit (ICU). A team lead by Dr. Aurora Quaye will examine whether using a clinician-facing dashboard, education on standard OUD management and use of a natural language processing algorithm improves the ability of providers at MaineHealth to identify ICU patients in need of OUD treatment and leads to stronger patient outcomes.

Another project builds on earlier research into whether an innovative telesimulation program improves neonatal resuscitation training in rural hospitals. Rural hospitals with low birth volumes have significantly higher rates of brain injury and infant mortality when newborns require resuscitation, as clinicians do not have as many opportunities to practice these emergency procedures. A team led by Dr. Allison Zanno will work with colleagues at MaineHealth Mid Coast Hospital, Pen Bay Hospital, Lincoln Hospital, Franklin Hospital, Stephens Hospital and Maine Medical Center Biddeford to refine the training and evaluate how effective it is at improving neonatal resuscitation, with a goal of including more rural hospitals in the future.

A third project seeks to create a greater understanding of sympathetic overactivation syndrome (SOS), when the body remains in a perpetual state of “fight or flight,” after a patient suffers bleeding into the space between the brain and skull. Dr. Madeliene Puissant will lead the research into whether beta-blocker medications can protect the heart, reduce inflammation and improve patient outcomes in general.

“This acute care COBRE not only addresses issues directly affecting the health of our communities, it provides the infrastructure to build our research capabilities into the future,” said MaineHealth Vice President of Research Jessica Chertow, Ph.D., MBA. “Junior faculty today become the mentors for our future workforce, and the discoveries we make in these early pilots become the evidence-based medicine our clinicians provide.”

The first COBRE grant allowed nine MaineHealth pilot studies and five research projects to move forward and connected MaineHealth scientists with collaborators at academic institutions nationally, according to the news release. It also provided academic support for investigators, engaged patient and family advisory committees, and secured additional funding to improve enrolment of non-English speakers in clinical trials.

MaineHealth note: Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute Of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P20GM139745. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

MaineHealth is a not-for-profit, integrated health system whose vision is, “Working together so our communities are the healthiest in America,” and is committed to a mission of providing high-quality affordable care, educating tomorrow's caregivers and researching better ways to provide care. MaineHealth includes a Level 1 trauma medical center, eight additional licensed hospitals, comprehensive pediatric care services, an extensive behavioral health care network, diagnostic services as well as home health, hospice and senior care services. With more than 2,000 employed providers and approximately 23,000 care team members, MaineHealth provides preventive care, diagnosis and treatment to 1.1 million residents in Maine and New Hampshire. MaineHealth hospitals include MaineHealth Behavioral Health at Spring Harbor in Westbrook, MaineHealth Franklin Hospital in Farmington, MaineHealth Lincoln Hospital in Damariscotta, MaineHealth Maine Medical Center in Portland, Biddeford and Sanford, MaineHealth Memorial Hospital in North Conway, N.H., MaineHealth Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick, MaineHealth Pen Bay Hospital in Rockport, MaineHealth Stephens Hospital in Norway and MaineHealth Waldo Hospital in Belfast. MaineHealth also includes the MaineHealth Barbara Bush Children’s, MaineHealth Behavioral Health in Westbrook, MaineHealth Home Health and Hospice in Saco, the MaineHealth Institute for Research in Scarborough, the MaineHealth Medical Group and MaineHealth NorDx in Scarborough. MaineHealth affiliates include MaineGeneral Health in Augusta and Waterville. It is also a significant stakeholder in the MaineHealth Accountable Care Organization in Portland and a joint venture partner in the New England Rehabilitation Hospital in Portland.