History

The Pragmatic Critical Care Research Group (PCCRG) was founded in 2013 by Matthew Semler, MD, MSCI; David Janz, MD, MSc; and Todd Rice, MD, MSc of Vanderbilt University to improve care for critically ill patients by using clinical trials to compare commonly used treatments. Over time, the group has grown into a multi-center clinical trials network that includes more than 100 emergency medicine, anesthesia, and critical care medicine physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, respiratory therapists, and other personnel from 20 health systems across the United States. 

Today, the network conducts federally-funded clinical trials in emergency and critical care medicine led by the Coordinating Center (Director: Jonathan Casey, MD, MSCI), Executive Committee (Members: Todd Rice, MD, MSc; Wesley Self, MD, MPH; David Janz, MD, MSc; Adit Ginde, MD; Stacy Trent, MD, MSPH; Matthew Prekker, MD, MPH; Brian Driver, MD; Kevin Gibbs, MD; Derek Russell, MD; and Sheetal Gandotra, MD), and Steering Committee (Chair: Matthew Semler, MD, MSCI) with clinicians and researchers from each hospital. The network focuses on comparing commonly used treatments for respiratory failure, shock, and other common acute illnesses.