“Postoperative delirium is associated with increased mortality, long-term cognitive decline, loss of autonomy, and costs. Moreover, the literature shows that, among the public, concerns about postoperative “brain damage” and “memory loss” are more frequent than concerns about death due to surgery. Indeed, the shift towards surgery in the elderly with multiple medical comorbidities will increase the encounter with surgical patients that will likely value the impact of our care on their cognitive and physical abilities, more than a prolonged survival. My research has a great potential of reducing the impact of surgery on patient lives as well as on resource use.” – Dr. Maura Marcucci

Dr. Maura Marcucci’s Current Appointments:

• Assistant Professor, Department of Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact & Department of Medicine, McMaster University
• Staff Physician, Division of General Internal Medicine & Division of Perioperative Care, Hamilton Health Science and St Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (McMaster University)
• Research Director, Division of General Internal Medicine, McMaster University
• Investigator, Population Health Research Institute, Hamilton, Ontario

Dr. Maura Marcucci’s Research:

• Dr. Marucucci’s current research program focuses on neurocognitive outcomes of noncardiac surgery (i.e., postoperative delirium and long-term cognitive decline) with a specific focus on underlying mechanisms and risk factors, and interventions to reduce their incidence. She is currently leading the cogPOISE-3 study, a substudy of a large international trial looking at the effect of minimizing perioperative blood loss and hypotension, on the incidence of in-hospital delirium and 1-year cognitive decline after noncardiac surgery. She is also conducting systematic reviews of the literature on vascular and non-vascular risk factors of postoperative delirium and cognitive decline, including the role of perioperative pain and pain management, with a focus on opioids
• She is also working on improving the feasibility and methodological quality of my research, and, at the same time, increase its innovation, including the development of Artificial Intelligence models for the interpretation of neuropsychological tests

About the PSI-50 Mid-Career Clinical Research Award

In celebration of PSI Foundation’s 50th anniversary, this one-time award provides up to $300,000 in funding over three or four years for a clinician-researcher between five and 15 years of their first academic appointment. This award recognizes that this phase of a researcher’s career is particularly challenging, with additional academic roles and responsibilities as well as the ongoing clinical work, and it will protect at least 50% of a recipient’s time for research that aligns with PSI Foundation priorities.