Dr. Gustavo Pradilla, Innovator of the Year for Research

Dr. Gustavo Pradilla, chief of neurosurgery at Grady and professor of neurosurgery at Emory University School of Medicine, helped change the way the deadliest form of stroke is treated. Now, Dr. Pradilla has been honored by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as Innovator of the Year for Research as part of its Health Care Champion Awards.

Dr. Pradilla co-led a successful six-year clinical trail on early minimally invasive removal of intracerebral hemorrhage – bleeding in the brain tissue. Dubbed ENRICH for short, the positive results were published in The New England Journal of Medicine last April. Trial results showed that the procedure lowered the death rate in patients and reduced time spent in the hospital.

Last September, the Marcus Foundation gave a $25.9 million grant for more research on Dr. Pradilla’s innovation and he is co-leading the Rapid Evacuation and Access of Cerebral Hemorrhage trail that is building on the ENRICH trial’s success.