Dr. Winnie Lau is a 2022 recipient of a Seed Funding Award in Neuropalliative Care from the International Neuropalliative Care Society. Dr. Lau is Assistant Professor of UNC Neurology and Neurosurgery, Neurocritical Care Division. She also serves as the Program Director of the UNC Adult Neurology Residency Program and Associate Program Director of the Neurocritical Care Fellowship.
Dr. Lau’s award will go towards funding her research on “The Role of Inpatient Hospice for Mechanically Ventilated Patients with Severe Acute Brain Injury”. The study is directed at understanding the family perceptions of patient care after transfer to UNC SECU hospice for compassionate extubation and comparing treatment outcomes to those who receive their palliative care and end-of-life services in the inpatient hospital. Informed by this knowledge, Dr. Lau aims to develop additional interventions to improve communications and care for patients and families with devastating severe acute brain injury including provide access for patients to hospice who otherwise would have been thought to be ineligible.
The research will take place at UNC Hospital in the division of Neurocritical Care, Department of Neurology in collaboration with the Department of Medicine, Hospice and Palliative Care Program. Co-Investigators include Drs. David Y Hwang and Casey Olm-Shipman (Neurology) and Drs. Laura Hanson and Jared Lowe (Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
The award comes from the International Neuropalliative Care Society’s (INPCS) Seed Funding Awards in Neuropalliative Care. This year, INPCS funded 2 Seed Funding Awards to encourage and support young investigators in conducting clinical research in the field of Neuropalliative Care. You can find out more about the award here.