Innovative Partnership Presents Team of Special Ops Veterans with a New Way to Serve
Through a new strategic partnership with the Michigan Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care, three veterans are bringing cutting edge research from the lab bench to the point of injury.
ANN ARBOR, MI – Dr. Ethan Miles was serving as the 75th Ranger Regimental Surgeon when he first met Dr. Kevin Ward, University of Michigan Professor of Emergency Medicine and Executive Director of the Michigan Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care (MCIRCC). The two were attending the THOR (Trauma Hemostasis Oxygenation Research) conference in Norway, where Ward was presenting on the training of Special Operations medics at U-M and other institutions, in order to prepare them to provide combat casualty care.
“It was my sixth year as a Special Operations Physician, so I had already been receiving the benefits of Dr. Ward’s quality training programs through my combat medics,” said Miles. After a brief introduction, it was clear the two had a lot in common. Not long after, Ward teamed up with Miles to help the Regiment develop a whole blood resuscitation program for the point of injury. “This program was the first of its kind and a true team effort,” noted Miles. “He was instrumental in its success.”
Though Miles and Ward stayed in touch, it was years later that their partnership would reach new ground. In 2019, Dr. Ward invited the Army physician to visit the MCIRCC team at Michigan Medicine and observe their work.
“I knew that Ethan and his colleagues are natural problem solvers who will demolish barriers to get things done,” said Ward, who is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve Medical Corp and part of an Army Forward Resuscitative Surgical Team charged with taking care of battlefield casualties in far forward areas. “Matching the right problem with total commitment to the mission would allow us to crush the problem.”
It didn’t take long for Dr. Miles to get excited about the opportunities available at MCIRCC. “After meeting the team, touring the facility, and a detailed discussion about the innovative research stream and products, I quickly called up two colleagues and friends, both of whom served with me in the 75th Ranger Regiment, and we decided to form Precision Trauma and partner with MCIRCC to bring several exciting products to the market.”
Dr. Ethan Miles was serving as the 75th Ranger Regimental Surgeon when he first met Dr. Kevin Ward, University of Michigan Professor of Emergency Medicine and Executive Director of the Michigan Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care (MCIRCC). It would be years before their partnership would develop into a new company called Precision Trauma.
Much like the military service that preceded them, the team at Precision Trauma have the goal to help save lives at record rates. Together, Miles, Jeffery Cain, MD, a current practicing emergency physician and former Ranger Infantry Officer and physician, and Peter Shull, a prior member of the Regiment, are focused on bringing practical life-saving devices to the right patient at the right place at the right time.
“Mission success in the military relies on innovation, preparation, teamwork, and execution which are all critical to the goals of Precision Trauma,” said Miles. “The three of us have all seen a significant amount of trauma, adversity, and mission success, and we genuinely believe our approach will change how trauma care is delivered by providing innovative solutions that will result in saving more lives.”
After working with the U-M Office of Technology Transfer, Precision Trauma has acquired both a license to certain intellectual property and a formal option to license other intellectual property, as specified in the agreement.
The Precision Trauma team is currently working on deploying effective solutions to change and simplify the approach to hemorrhage well before surgical care can be provided. Their first product is a simple-to-use tourniquet, developed by MCIRCC specifically for first-responders and civilians.
In the near term, the team is working on deploying effective solutions to change and simplify the current approach to hemorrhage well before surgical care can be provided. Their first product is a simple-to-use tourniquet built specifically for first-responders and civilians. This new iteration of a commonly found device offers significant mechanical advantages that make it easier, faster, and more effective in stopping life-threatening hemorrhage from a bleeding limb. Designed by teams of clinicians and engineers at MCIRCC, the tourniquet is expected to reach the market by spring 2021 after undergoing refinement by the Precision Trauma team. Those teams, along with MCIRCC’s preclinical and clinical research cores, are also rapidly advancing additional solutions to control hemorrhage and more complex and catastrophic injuries experienced by both civilians and military personnel.
“Junctional and non-compressible torso (abdominal and pelvic) hemorrhage continue to be one of the greatest sources of potentially survivable death,” said Miles. “With MCIRCC’s innovative hemorrhage control product line, our unique solutions enable the non-surgeon to achieve hemorrhage control and allow the patient to reach definitive care alive. Current solutions in the healthcare system require advanced training and dedicated teams to implement, and for the most part are not practical in the prehospital environment.”
While Precision Trauma’s product line is currently small, it’s the company’s bold mission that really stands out: “With the mission of saving the next patient at the forefront, we are now bringing this same innovation to the very communities we sought to protect over the last two decades.”
Both Dr. Miles and Dr. Ward see the relationship between MCIRCC and Precision Trauma as long-term, and have plans for the development of many more successful products.
“This relationship provides a direct connection to emerging innovative trauma and combat casualty care products and the research teams developing them,” said Ward. “We view this strategic partnership with Precision Trauma as a force multiplier to MCIRCC’s mission of transforming critical care through innovation, integration, and entrepreneurship.”
For More Information