Introduction of the Weil Institute for Critical Care Research & Innovation

The Weil Institute for Critical Care Research & Innovation, a non-profit medical research organization, has been dedicated to basic research in the field of critical care medicine and long-term clinical research in cardiopulmonary cerebral resuscitation. It is a designated partner institute of the American Heart Association（AHA）and responsible for clinical trials and certification of CPR equipment worldwide; It holds the meeting of subject experts annually to discuss annual developments and trends in the field of resuscitation, and participated in the development of the Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care in 2000, 2005, and 2010.

Professor Weil, one of the founders of the Weil Institute for Critical Care Research & Innovation, is internationally recognized as the "Father of Critical Care Medicine in the World", having founded the world's first ICU and being the founder and first president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM).

Professor Weil became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1944 and served in the U.S. Army from 1946-1947 in medical aid, received his MD in 1952 and graduated from the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center. After a career in cardiac care at the MAYO Clinic in Rochester, Professor Weil moved to California at the age of 31 and met his future partner, Dr. Herbert S. Shubin.

In 1958 at the County-USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, Dr. Weil and Dr. Shubin found that many patients were dying at night from heart attacks, critical illnesses or surgical procedures. They found that dur to the lack effective method of detecting continuous vital signs, nurses often failed to notice the death of their patients. This led to the concept of "critical care" by always checking blood pressure, pulse, respiration and other vital signs. The four-bed "Intensive Care Unit" established by Dr. Weil and Dr. Shubin at LA County General Hospital has since grown into a 42-bed emergency center and is today a model for intensive care, coronary care, and post-operative care.

In 1961 they started a collaborative drug and surgical program with USC, and the Institute became an independent, non-profit organization by 1975. However, unfortunately Dr. Shubin died of a heart attack at the age of 50 in the same year. His death triggered a strong sense of responsibility for Dr. Weil to be informed about how to save patients in cardiac arrest. He became the foremost authority on medicine at Chicago Medical School in 1980, and Dr. Weil focused his Institute experience primarily on the Midwest of America, where he established the Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, California, in the early 1990s.

Over the next 10 years, the Weil lab developed a range of techniques to monitor and manage life-threatening circulatory shock, cardiac failure, acute pulmonary failure and infection. The latest breakthrough is the development of a drug to combat heart failure after successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Studies have shown that this drug can greatly improve patient survival by repairing damaged heart function. The research also includes a chest compression device a resuscitation blanket and bone marrow stem cells for repair after damage to the brain and heart in cardiac arrest.

Nowadays, the laboratory has provided assistance and support for medical training, community service, laboratory research and biomedical engineering. The laboratory has a large number of manikins and laboratory equipment for teaching CPR. It works tirelessly to educate the next generation and improve the CPR skills of healthcare personnel. At the same time, it provides academic access and a perfect laboratory environment for scientists and professors from across the United States and around the world.

Meanwhile, Weil Institute has cooperated extensively with China, establishing the CPR Institute with Sun Yat-sen University and global strategic partnerships with SunLife, which has been the sole global user of the Weil Institute's 3D compression technology. Moreover, SunLife is also the transformation platform for Weil's new resuscitation technology, which aims at improving CPR technology in China.

Professor Wanchun Tang, who is the Director, Tenured Professor and Chief Scientist of the Weil Institute of Critical Care Medicine, has been critical in developing the partnership. He is also a professor at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, a member of the Emergency Cardiovascular Care Committee of the American Heart Association, a Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians (FCCP), a Fellow of Critical Care Medicine (FCCM), a Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA) and the Honorary Director of the Institute of Cardiopulmonary Cerebral Resuscitation at Sun Yat-sen University. He is also the Co-developer of 2000, 2005 and 2010 Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care.

Now, the Weil Institute and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) have merged together and are located within the VCU School of Medicine. Their cooperation improves medical research and clinical practice to a new level in medical research worldwide.

Learn more at:https://weilinstitute.med.umich.edu/

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