EVERY Patient Deserves the Best Possible Outcome

On a crisp September day back in 2021, Arnold Wynn believed he was dead. A cushion of nothingness enveloped him as he slid to the ground from the trunk of the car his Ducati had just careened into. Time had stopped.

The slow-speed crash had sent him flying over his handlebars head-first into the braking Ford Taurus ahead of him, shattering half the vertebrae in his back. He later learned that the loss of all sensation he experienced could be attributed to spinal cord shock syndrome, which immediately shut down his nervous system. He now counts that numbness as a blessing.

For too many Americans, an injury like Wynn’s results in death or life-changing disability. Those lucky enough to survive such bodily trauma often live with impaired function and chronic pain and lose the ability to provide for themselves and their families.

The personal and societal burden of traumatic injury is astronomical. Aside from the incalculable emotional suffering of survivors and their loved ones, traumatic injury is estimated to cost Americans $4.2 TRILLION annually in medical expenditures, lost productivity and loss of life-years.

Traumatic injury is a unique public health problem because it can affect anyone, any time, regardless of socio-economic status, geography, race, gender, age or other demographic factors. Accounting for nearly 230,000 deaths every year, traumatic injury—whether the result of a vehicle crash, a gunshot, a fall, violence, or other emergent event—is the leading cause of death of Americans between the ages of one and 45. And for every one person who dies, 11 more are hospitalized following severe, non-fatal injuries.

Yet, despite its heavy toll, traumatic injury research remains considerably underfunded relative to other disease categories. The difficulty of conducting research in emergency situations and the fact that trauma is often not thought of as a singular disease are partially to blame for this affront. Importantly, there is no federal home for trauma research—no “National Institute of Traumatic Injury” to concentrate resources and coordinate research. Nor is there a federal trauma system to equitably distribute centers and standardize practices—each state maintains its own trauma system.

In the absence of consistent federal funding and direction, the nonprofit Coalition for National Trauma Research (CNTR) is the only organization solely dedicated to supporting trauma research that will lead to a trauma care system in which there are zero preventable deaths and disabilities.

CNTR works to ensure more people survive traumatic injuries, and those who do survive have the best possible outcome:

• We manage high-priority, multi-center, multidisciplinary trials that close research gaps and directly lead to improved, evidence-based practices.
• We build research infrastructure essential to running efficient trials, engaging patients, building consensus, sharing data and more, addressing trauma research challenges.
• We advocate for more federal funding directed toward research on trauma—a disease category whose societal burden far outstrips the resources dedicated to it.

Thankfully, Arnold Wynn’s crash had the best possible outcome.

On the day he almost died, Wynn was rushed to George Washington University Hospital, a Level 1 Trauma Center in metropolitan Washington, D.C. He underwent extensive spinal reconstruction surgery, performed by the eminently qualified Michael Rosner, MD, a neurosurgeon and neuro-trauma researcher with years of experience putting wrecked bodies back together. In the many difficult months that followed, his occupational therapist, Beth Faircloth, applied the principles of Neuromuscular Re-Education (NMRE) to help restore his physical function.

Wynn was beyond lucky—that a Level 1 Trauma Center was minutes away; that an expert neurosurgeon scientist was there to save his life; that an enhanced rehabilitation program, informed by research in neuroplasticity, was available; and that he could eventually return to his career in cybersecurity at NASA.

CNTR works to ensure that Wynn’s experience is the norm, not the fortunate exception. A growing research coalition of 25 trauma-related professional and patient organizations concerned with the full spectrum of injury care, CNTR’s mission is essential to developing the evidence that underlies delivery of the best care possible…for every patient, every time.