From Board Membership to 15k Run, Brett Kissela, MD, is on the Move

Photo of Brett Kissela, MD, by Academic Health Center Communications Services

Every day UCNI's Brett Kissela, MD, gives the gift of health and knowledge. As Co-Director of the Stroke Recovery Center at Cincinnati’s Drake Center and Vice Chair of UC’s Department of Neurology, Dr. Kissela is a man on the go who cares for patients, conducts research, and helps educate and train the next generation of stroke experts.

He will present some of his ground-breaking research later this month – stay tuned! -- at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference in San Antonio.

And in his spare time … Dr. Kissela just keeps on giving.

The UC Neuroscience Institute is pleased to announce that Dr. Kissela has joined the Board of Directors of InReturn, a developing nonprofit that employs individuals who have suffered injury to the brain. Dr. Kissela joins UCNI’s Lori Shutter, MD, Director of Neurocritical Care Program, on the InReturn board.

InReturn has steadily gained momentum since its founding in 2004 by Rob Groeschen, whose older brother, Tom, suffered lasting brain damage from a 1983 car accident. InReturn employs 12 individuals in a structured and supportive manufacturing environment in Blue Ash, while also nurturing life skills and social development. Employees perform fulfillment and outsourcing services that include shredding, boxing, mailing, the creation of hand-made greeting cards, and the manufacture of new products from off-specification materials. InReturn, which aspires to become self-sustaining, became profitable in the last quarter of 2009 with clients that include Macy’s and Procter & Gamble.

Dr. Kissela is also more committed than ever to the American Heart Association’s Mini Marathon and Heart Walk, which raises funds for stroke research and education. The Cincinnati event is scheduled for Sunday, March 28.

Dr. Kissela has treated thousands of stroke patients over the last 10 years, but during the past year, he says, “Stroke care became intensely personal. To my shock and horror, my 8-year-old nephew Joel had a stroke one night. It was a serious hemorrhage into the left side of his brain from a vascular malformation that had never caused any symptoms previously and had thus been undetected. In an instant, a healthy young man who was very active and a terrific student became paralyzed on the right side of his body and was unable to talk.”

Joel, above, is recovering well, Dr. Kissela says, and treatment for the vascular malformation was successful. Dr. Kissela will run the 15k mini-marathon in support of Joel, his own patients, and stroke survivors everywhere. To make a donation in honor of Dr. Kissela or Joel, please visit http://bit.ly/9qdeS9 .