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Nicholas A. Morris, MD

Academic Title:

Associate Professor

Primary Appointment:

Neurology

Additional Title:

Associate Professor of Neurology Neurocritical Care Fellowship Program Director Chair of Resuscitation Committee Associate Director of Shock Trauma Simulation Center

Location:

Neurocritical Care Unit University of Maryland Medical Center

Education and Training

Education

2003: B.A., Psychology, Yale College (Magna Cum Laude), New Haven, CT

2005: Post-Baccalaureate Premedical Program, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

2010: M.D., Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Post Graduate Training

2010–2011: Internship, Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA

2011–2014: Residency, Neurology, Partners Neurology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital / Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA

2014–2016: Fellowship, Neurocritical Care, Columbia University Medical Center / Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY

2017: Comprehensive Instructor Workshop, Center for Medical Simulation, Boston, MA

2019: Advanced Instructor Course, Center for Medical Simulation, Boston, MA

2021–2022: American Academy of Neurology Transforming Leaders Program

Biosketch

Dr. Morris received his undergraduate degree from Yale University, graduating magna cum laude with distinction in the Psychology major. After working in neuropsychiatry research at the Olin Neuropsychiatric Research Center (Hartford, CT), Dr. Morris returned to his hometown of Baltimore to complete the post-baccalaureate premedical program at Johns Hopkins University. He received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School. He completed his internal medicine internship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center followed by a neurology residency in the Partners Neurology program. Dr. Morris completed his training with a fellowship in neurocritical care at Columbia University / Weill Cornell Medical College.  Once again, he returned to Baltimore as assistant professor in the Department of Neurology and the Program in Trauma at the University of Maryland School of Medicine where he serves as Program Director for the fellowship in neurocritical care, the Chair of the Resuscitation Committee, and the Associate Director of the Shock Trauma Simulation Center.

He holds a strong interest in using simulation to help teach and assess competency in emergency neurology.  He has received comprehensive and advanced training in healthcare simulation from the Center for Medical Simulation (CMS) in Boston, MA.  He has served as a facilitator in CMS' Gateway Debriefing Workshop.  He has developed presentations, assessment material, and most recently interactive computer-based case simulations for the Neurocritical Care Society's Emergency Neurological Life Support course.  He was granted the Faculty Innovation in Education Award from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology for his project "Development and Validation of Evaluative Simulation Scenarios for Neurological Emergencies".  He has presented work from this award at annual meetings of the Neurocritical Care Society and the American Academy of Neurology and published in Neurocritical Care and Neurology.  His other research interests include pain after subarachnoid hemorrhage and disparities in emergency neurology care delivery.

 

Research/Clinical Keywords

Multimodality Monitoring, Medical Simulation, Assessment, Pain and Patient-Centered Outcomes after Subarachnoid Hemorrhage, Brain-Heart Connection, Disparities in Emergency Neurology Care Delivery, Triage

Highlighted Publications

Kalasapudi L, Williamson S, Shipper AG, Motta M, Esenwa C, Otite F, Chaturvedi S, Morris, NA. A scoping review of racial, ethnic, and sex disparities in the diagnosis and management of hemorrhagic stroke. Neurology. 2023 Jul;101(3):e267-e276.

Morris NA, Wang Y, Felix RB, Rao A, Arnold S, Khalid M, Armahizer MJ, Murthi SB, Colloca L.  Adjunctive virtual reality pain relief following traumatic injury: a proof-of-concept, within-person randomized trial. Pain. 2023 Sep;164(9):2122-2129.

Bosel J, Niesen WD, Salih F, Morris NA, Ragland J, Gough B, Schneider H, Neumann JO, Hwang D, Kantamneni P, James ML, Freeman WE, Rajajee V, Rao CV, Nair D, Benner L, Meis J, Klose C, Kieser M, Schonenberger S, Seder DB, for the SETPOINT 2 and the IGNITE study groups. Early or standard tracheostomy in ventilated patients with severe  JAMA. 2022 May;327(19):1899-1909. PMID: 35506515.

Morris NA, Mazzeffi M, McArdle P, May TL, Waldrop G, Perman SM, Burke JF, Bradley SM, Agarwal S, Figueroa JF, Badjatia N, and the CARES Surveillance Group. Hispanic/Latino patients lack access to hospitals with targeted temperature management programs following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Journal of the American Heart Association. 2021;0:e017773.

Pergakis MB, Chang WW, Tabatabai A, Phipps MS, Neustein B, Podell JE, Parikh G, Badjatia N, Motta M, Lerner DP, Morris NA. Simulation-based assessment of trainees’ performance managing acute ischemic stroke. Neurology.  2021 October;97(24):e2414-e2422.

Morris NA, Chang WT, Tabatabai A, Gutierrez CA, Phipps MS, Lerner D, Bates OJ, Tisherman SA.  Development of neurological emergency simulations for assessment: content evidence and response process.  Neurocritical Care. 2021 Oct;35(2):389-396. 

Jaffa MN, Podell JE, Smith MC, Foroutan BS, Kardon A, Chang WT, Motta M, Parikh G, Sheth KM, Badjatia N, Armahizer MJ, Simard JM, Morris NA.  Association of refractory pain in the acute phase after subarachnoid hemorrhage with continued outpatient opioid use.  Neurology.  2021 May;96(19): e2355-e2362.

Morris NA, Czeisler BM, Sarwal A. Simulation in neurocritical care: past, present, and future. Neurocritical Care. 2019 June;30(3):522-533. 

Morris NA, Chatterjee A, Adejumo OL, Chen M, Merkler AE, Murthy SB, Kamel H.  The risk of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy in acute neurological disease.  Neurocritical Care.  2019 February; 30(1):171-176.

Morris NA, May TL, Motta M, Agarwal S, Kamel H.  Long-term risk of seizures among cardiac arrest survivors.  Resuscitation.  2018 August;129:94-96.

Morris NA, Robinson D, Schmidt JM, Frey HP, Park S, Agarwal S, Connolly ES, Claassen J.  Hunt Hess 5 subarachnoid hemorrhages presenting with cardiac arrest is associated with larger volume bleeds.  Resuscitation. 2018 February;123:71-76. 

Morris NA, Merkler AE, Gialdini G, Kamel H.  Timing of incident stroke risk following cervical artery dissection presenting without ischemia.  Stroke.  2017 March;48(3):551-555.

Additional Publication Citations

Awards and Affiliations

B.A., Magna cum Laude, Distinction in Major (Psychology) (2003)

Psi Chi, The National Psychology Honors Society (2003)

American Academy of Neurology, Medical Student Prize for Excellence in Neurology (2010)

American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Faculty Innovation in Education Award (2018)

University of Maryland Institute for Clinical and Translational Research Accelerated Translational Incubator Pilot Award (2020)

University of Maryland Medical Center, Innovation Challenge Award (2021)

Neurocritical Care Society “Distinguished Poster”, Senior Author (2021)

Neurocritical Care Society Mentorship Award (2021)

American Heart Association Young Investigator Award (Ali Afrah, MBBS), Mentor (2021)

Fellow of Neurocritical Care Society (2023)

Presidential Citation, Neurocritical Care Society (2023)

Social Media Influencer Award, Neurocritical Care Society (2023)

Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology (2023)

International Serious Play Awards, Gold Medal, Digital Simulations – Healthcare / Medical / Pharmaceutical / Nursing for Distress! Smartphone-based Simulator (2023)

 

General Member, American Academy of Neurology (2011-Present)

General Member, Massachusetts Medical Society (2011-2014)

General Member, Neurocritical Care Society (2014-Present)

General Member, Society of Critical Care Medicine (2014-Present)

General Member, American Heart Association (2016-Present)

General Member, Society for Simulation in Healthcare (2018-Present)

 

 

Grants and Contracts

University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR)  Accelerated Translational Incubator Pilot (ATIP) grant, "Adjunct Virtual Reality Pain Management in Acute Brain Injury" (2020)

NINDS 1R01NS131606-01 (PI -S. Park), "Machine Learning to Optimize Management of Acute Hydrocephalus”, Site-PI (2023-2028)

American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology Faculty Innovation in Education Award, "Development and validation of evaluative simulation for emergency neurology" (2018-2020)