Mayfield will ramp up investments in our growing research program in 2021, fueled by expanded clinical trials, additional laboratory programs and increased access to outcomes data. The resources to support research and education will keep Mayfield at the forefront of advanced neurosurgical care and help fulfill our historic commitments to our patients and community.
The investments include increased staff to support clinical trials and bioskills laboratory programs. Retrospective clinical trials should increase significantly in 2021 using outcomes data collected by Mayfield, said Sonia Lipp, manager of research services. Mayfield also has scheduled nearly a dozen laboratory engagements at the Surgical Innovation Center already for this year, ahead of post-Covid projections, Lipp said. Those include training programs for high-demand clinical care workers and national or international companies looking for feedback from Mayfield physicians and nurses.
“This commitment to education and research gives us a knowledge base that improves outcomes, not only for our own patients, but for the larger community,” Lipp said.
The Mayfield Education & Research Foundation (MERF) provides facilities, infrastructure and funding support for Mayfield’s research program. Involvement in leading-edge education and research gives Mayfield national research exposure and provides a platform that improves patient outcomes. The foundation also has funded seed grants to researchers throughout the Midwest to accelerate private funding.
“The foundation seeks to reward excellence and innovation that ultimately will help patients live better lives,” said Deb Livingston, development director at MERF. “Our investments in Mayfield’s research program are central to our mission, and we believe they will lead to significant advancements in clinical care.”
Mayfield neurosurgeon William Tobler, MD, chairman of the MERF Board of Trustees and former chairman of the Mayfield Spine Surgery Center Board of Managers, said the emphasis on research and education distinguishes Mayfield from other private medical practices. Mayfield is known worldwide for its development of equipment and instrumentation – including the Mayfield headrests designed to cradle and stabilize the head off the operating table – that has benefited patients for decades. He said Mayfield will thrive by investing in its future while staying true to its heritage.
“We are recommitting ourselves to research and education because this is what makes us different,” Dr. Tobler said. “We have always been trailblazers, and we plan on continuing that tradition.”
Another key part of Mayfield’s research program is published research that advances clinical knowledge, places Mayfield among national leaders in the field and ultimately benefits patients. Mayfield neurosurgeons published nearly two dozen academic articles during 2020, a 10% increase compared to the year before.
In one example of Mayfield’s published research, neurosurgeons Ronald Warnick, MD, and Andrew Ringer, MD, each were selected as ”Editor’s Choice” articles in the February edition of Neurosurgery. the official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.
Both specialists are part of international consortia that are advancing patient care through research and discovery. Dr. Warnick, co-director of the Gamma Knife Center at The Jewish Hospital-Mercy Health, collaborates with the International Radiosurgery Research Foundation for his studies on advances in stereotactic radiosurgery. Dr. Ringer is co-founder of the Endovascular Neurosurgery Research Group, which is producing a yearlong series of surgical videos and published early research documenting how stroke patients were delaying seeking emergency case because of the impact of COVID-19.