In the fall of 2023, Duke University School of Medicine, in collaboration with the UNC School of Medicine, was awarded
a U24 grant (U24NS135250) by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to participate in its nationwide network of research sites conducting clinical trials for stroke called StrokeNet. The award, entitled “Duke-University of North Carolina (UNC) Eastern North Carolina and Southern Virginia RegIonal Stroke trIal cONsortium (ENVISION)”, establishes Duke and UNC as a regional coordinating center within StrokeNet.
Duke’s Wayne Feng, MD, Professor of Neurology and Division Chief of Stroke and Vascular Neurology serves as the contact principal investigator for the award, while Alexander Limkakeng, MD, Duke University Professor of Emergency Medicine, and UNC’s David Hwang, MD, Professor of Neurology and Division Chief of Neurocritical Care, serve as co-principal investigators. This award will provide over $2.7 million over the next five years to establish a regional network of hospital sites in eastern North Carolina and southern Virginia to provide cutting-edge trial therapy options in acute treatment, prevention and recovery to stroke patients. This local consortium will draw from a stroke population of 2.2 million people in a region including 6 major hospitals and 21 regional hospitals. The consortium also provides support for one StrokeNet Fellow, who is a junior clinical researcher who is interested in conducting stroke clinical trials.