GMC Srinagar wins ICMR (top research) grant for brain trauma study
Srinagar, Nov 02: Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar has secured a major research grant from the country’s top medical research body to develop a personalized approach to treating traumatic brain injury care, a milestone that places the Kashmiri institution among the country’s emerging leaders in neurocritical care research.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) awarded the grant to the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care, Pain and Palliative Medicine for a pioneering study that will use transcranial Doppler-based autoregulation indices to guide individualized cerebral perfusion pressure in patients with severe brain injuries. The project is led by Dr. Rayees Najib, an assistant professor, under the mentorship of Professor Hina Bashir, head of the department.
The study aims to integrate advanced brain monitoring with biomarkers that reveal cellular damage, helping doctors determine how much blood flow each patient’s brain requires for optimal recovery. If successful, it could reshape clinical practices in India’s intensive care units, where head injuries are among the leading causes of death and disability, particularly following road accidents.
“This grant recognizes not only the scientific potential of our proposal but also the growing research capabilities in Srinagar,” said Dr. Rayees Najib. “Our goal is to move toward personalized brain care, understanding how each patient’s brain responds to trauma, and adjusting treatment accordingly.”
The ICMR’s decision to back the project is being seen as an acknowledgement of advanced medical research emerging from Kashmir, where healthcare has long been overshadowed by infrastructural challenges. The project’s approval marks GMC Srinagar’s first major national research funding in neurocritical care, signaling its entry into India’s expanding network of academic medicine.
Professor Hina Bashir said the department’s collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare shows the urgency of improving critical care standards in peripheral regions. “We are working to bridge the gap between advanced research and clinical application,” she said. “Traumatic brain injury is not just a hospital problem, it’s a public health challenge.”
“This study aims to pioneer individualized cerebral perfusion management in patients with traumatic brain injury by integrating advanced neuromonitoring techniques and brain injury biomarkers,” she said.
“The ICMR recognition highlights GMC Srinagar’s growing contribution to cutting-edge neurocritical care research and marks a proud moment for the institution’s academic and clinical excellence,” she said.
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) kill an estimated 150,000 people annually in India and leave hundreds of thousands more with long-term disabilities. Most public hospitals still rely on generalized treatment protocols rather than real-time, patient-specific monitoring. Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are the leading cause, accounting for about 60% of TBIs, with young men being disproportionately affected. The poor availability of pre-hospital care and healthcare resources, especially for lower-income groups, is a significant factor contributing to the high mortality rate, as 95% of trauma victims may not receive optimal care within the crucial "golden hour" after injury.
The GMC Srinagar study will deploy Doppler ultrasound technology to continuously measure blood flow in the brain’s major arteries, allowing doctors to adjust blood pressure targets to match the patient’s individual autoregulatory response, a personalized approach rarely used in Indian hospitals.
Experts say the research could help establish national guidelines for precision-based critical care, reducing complications such as secondary brain swelling and oxygen deprivation. The team also plans to correlate these neurological findings with biochemical markers in the blood, a step toward creating a clinical model that integrates physiology and molecular data.
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