TITLE:

Demetri Yannopoulos, MD, Robert K Eddy Endowed Chair, Medical Director, Center for Resuscitation Medicine, Professor of Medicine and Emergency Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School

BIOGRAPHY:

Dr. Yannopoulos has dedicated his scientific and academic career in the field of resuscitation. He has had continuous funding from the NIH to evaluate methods to improve neurological outcomes after prolong untreated arrest for the last 10 years, and is the Principal Investigator of the NIH Funded ARREST Trial. The ARREST trial is the first trial in the US to assess the role of ECMO as a means to save more lives compared to the US standard of care refractory Ventricular Fibrillation. He received the prestigious Transformative Research Award from the NIH Director’s office, which evaluated ways to mitigate reperfusion injury after cardiac arrest.

Dr. Yannopoulos is a member of the American Heart Association CPR guidelines committee, leading the national charge in redefining the role of interventional cardiology in cardiac arrest and has shown that severe coronary artery disease is the reason that many patients do not have successful resuscitation with standard therapies. In addition, he has collaborated with the Twin Cities EMS directors and established the first ECMO-based resuscitation protocol in the US for refractory VF OHCA patients. He has worked with prehospital leaders to advance the outcomes for all patients with cardiac arrest and organize the way they are treated in the field and the hospital.

Dr. Yannopoulos has been actively redefining the future of time-sensitive interventions in the emergency medical field, and designed the first-of-its-kind medical mobile ECMO truck used to deliver immediate medical care to cardiac arrest patients. With the support of the Helmsley Charitable Trust, he can continue advancing his prior work and ensuring the best possible care for people with refractory cardiac arrest as well as stroke patients, and potentially creating a completely new model of mobile care that can be used to address other critical-need patients more effectively.