The Center for Injury Science at UAB is dedicated to surgical research and committed to developing new methods of acute care.

The center is comprised of four research units: the Clinical Trials Unit, the Trauma Care Delivery Research Unit and the Basic Science and Translational Research Unit.

The Clinical Trials Unit specializes in the design, coordination and execution of clinical trials of complex interventions, such as surgical procedures and medical devices. These trials present special problems for evaluators, which include small eligible populations, difficulties in standardizing the delivery of the interventions and sensitivity to local context.

CIS faculty have particular expertise in conducting exception-from-informed-consent studies in both prehospital and in-hospital settings and clinical trials requiring innovative (Bayesian or adaptive) approaches. We have a wide range of contacts in other academic and clinical areas to facilitate any necessary additional input.

The CIS also supports more than 20 research assistants who provide 24/7 acute care research recruitment in the UAB-ED and ongoing collaborations with several local EMS agencies that support related prehospital enrollment activities. The CIS staff has extensive experience serving as the coordinating center and leading numerous multicenter clinical trials funded by the NIH, the Department of Defense and the National Institute for Health Research. In addition, the CIS has participated as a Regional Clinical Center in the NIH-NHLBI-funded Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium for the past 15 years and has ample experience conducting out-of-hospital and in-hospital resuscitation clinical trials. Trials executed by our team include hypertonic saline for prehospital resuscitation from hemorrhagic shock and traumatic brain injury, prehospital hypotensive resuscitation vs. standard resuscitation in patients with hemorrhagic shock, and “Pragmatic, Randomized Optimal Platelet and Plasma Ratios,” tranexamic acid for TBI, and a randomized clinical trial of the XSTAT hemostatic device in a prehospital setting.

The CIS additionally collaborates with the UAB Center for Surgical Research to conduct trauma-related basic and clinical science research to improve procedures for diagnosis, treatment and critical care that will result in decreased trauma-induced septic complications, morbidities and mortality rates. Significant emphasis is placed on generating state-of-the-art information that is available to trauma and burn surgeons in the UAB community.
At present, UAB is leading a DOD-funded program aimed at “Surviving Blood Loss: First in Human Studies to Assess Safety and Physiologic Effects of Synthetic Ethinyl Estradiol-3-Sulfate (EE-3-SO4) In Healthy Subjects.”