Paola De Rango Award Recognises Improving Stroke Care Access for Women

During the  2018 ESOC Scientific Session on  “Sex Influences and Stroke” , the first-ever “Paola De Rango Award” was  presented to George Dunn, the current  Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) Project Manager within the School Of Population Health & Environmental Sciences at King’s College London. George Dunn  was chosen over the other  highly qualified candidates, for his ongoing research contributing to a greater stroke care access for women. Through his initiative, the registry since early 2015 has collected  extensive data on sex differences   particularly related to quality improvement and equality in stroke care access.  George Dunn  reported, during his ESOC presentation, that preliminary data coming from SSNAP  suggests that women were less likely to   receive  thrombolysis therapy, have  considerably  longer door-to-needle times and  receive less physiotherapy within 72hrs from index stroke. The award  selection  committee based its decision on the overwhelming relevance, to clinical care decisions regarding priority choices, of the SSNAP results.

About George Dunn:

“George Dunn is the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) Project Manager within the School Of Population Health & Environmental Sciences at King’s College London. SSNAP is a national stroke registry for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. He graduated from Lancaster University with a BA (Hons) degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. George has worked in the registry since early 2015 and has a keen interest in research, particularly related to quality improvement and equality in stroke care.

About Paola De Rango

In order to honour Paola De Rango’s (1966-2016) https://www.ejves.com/article/S1078-5884(16)00114-3/fulltext  unflagging dedication to  reaching  the highest standards of research ethics and scientific methodology to the sole  benefit of  the patient. As a  licensed vascular surgeon for more than two decades, she gained  worldwide respect and admiration for her body of research that impacted  international guidelines on  stroke prevention in patients with carotid stenosis.  Between 2007 and  2016, she lead authored more than 20 published papers on the management of carotid stenosis in women. Her dedication to this  specialization was a pioneering influence on what later would become a highly popular field of research.