Global Neurosurg

How it started

In 2018, by the time I was looking forward to my graduation from medical school and planning for my career in neurosurgery, I thought about creating a global neurosurgical research collaborative with the aim of identifying and improving the gaps in neurosurgical care between HICs and LMICs. I spoke about the idea of the Global Neurosurg with my mentors Prof. Ahmed Raslan (US) and Prof. Ahmed Hegazy (Egypt), who welcomed the idea and started formulating a steering committee group. The collaborative currently includes collaborating centers in more than 70 countries around the world.

“Global NeuroSurg; The World Global Neurosurgical Research Collaborative”

Website: www.globalneurosurg.org

Dates of Project Initiation and Completion: [May 2018] – [Ongoing]

Resulting Publications

(1) Global Neurosurg-1 study protocol registration

Ahmed Negida, Zoe Teton, Hieder Al-Shami, Ahmed Hegazy, Ahmed M. Raslan (2019). Global NeuroSurg 1 Study: Determining the Global Outcomes of Traumatic Brain Injury in low-, middle-, and high- income countries: A prospective, international cohort study. protocols.io Link: dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.3kpgkvn

(2) Global Neurosurg-1 Invitation – Letter to the Editor

Negida, A., & Raslan, A. (2019). Invitation to the GNS-I Study; a Global Evaluation of Traumatic Brain Injury in Low-, Middle-, and High- income Countries. Advanced Journal of Emergency Medicine, 3(3), e21. https://doi.org/10.22114/ajem.v0i0.173

(3) Global Neurosurg-1 Protocol

Negida A, Teton Z, Stedelin B, Nerison C, Al-Shami H, Hegazy A, Raslan AM. Determining the global outcomes of traumatic brain injury in low-, middle-and high-income countries: a prospective, global neurosurgery, multicenter cohort study (Global NeuroSurg 1 Study Protocol). Journal of Surgical Protocols and Research Methodologies. 2021 Sep;2021(1):snab002. https://academic.oup.com/jsprm/article/2021/1/snab002/6365130

(4) Global Neurosurg Collaborative Model

Negida A and Raslan AM (2021) The Global NeuroSurg Research Collaborative: A Novel Student-Based Model to Expand Global Neurosurgery Research. Front. Surg. 8:721863. doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2021.721863 Link: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsurg.2021.721863/full

Technical Summary of Work:

In May 2018, I established a global neurosurgical research collaborative to advance neurosurgical research worldwide. Several worldwide neuroscientists and neurosurgeons joined the Global Neurosurg collaborative. This initiative was supported by Dr. Ahmed M. Raslan, (Associate Professor in Neurological Surgery, Director of clinical operations, Neuroscience Quality Director, Oregon Health and Science University)

The first project (May 2018 to December 2021) is an international prospective cohort study on the outcomes and the management of traumatic brain injuries worldwide. This project will give a picture about the outcomes of TBI around the world and will highlight the management practices that give good outcomes and those that lead to bad outcomes (death or complications). The second project (2022-2023) will be an international prospective cohort study on the outcomes and management of stroke worldwide.

Summary of the Significance of the Work:

This project is important to my field because

* First, the Global NeuroSurg Research Collaborative will advance the field of Brain Surgery by highlighting and addressing the gaps in neurosurgical outcomes between different world centers/countries; this is achieved by international multicenter research evaluations of the current practices and current outcomes. This initiative will guide further improvement in neurological surgery and is expected to improve patient outcomes worldwide.

** Second, the Global Neurosurg-1 study is important because there is no uniform worldwide consensus on the management of traumatic brain injury. Therefore, variabilities in TBI management practices do exist and this leads to variations in the outcomes of TBI. Patients in limited-resource settings and underserved areas have worse TBI outcomes (they are more likely to die or have more complications). By screening all worldwide practices and outcomes, our project will identify the practices associated with mortality and worse functional outcome and the practices associated with better outcomes and better functionality.