"The idea, like many good ones, arose by accident. It was the mid 1990s and London's Great Osmond Street Hospital was losing a troubling number of young cardiac patients following complex heart surgery. Other hospitals were experiencing the same problem. Surgeons Alan Goldman and Martin Elliott were among those searching for answers when they met in a break room at the hospital where, fortuitously, a Formula One race was on the television. The doctors immediately were drawn to the choreographed chaos of the pit stops, in which several people completed complex tasks perfectly in seconds."
"The similarities to the operating room were obvious: the physical space was rigid, the moves repetitive, the pressure intense. Communication and focus were necessary, mistakes unacceptable. So they flew to Italy to meet with people at Scuderia Ferrari, who helped them adapt the functions of a race team to an emergency room. The results were immediate. Lives were saved and the pit-crew model was widely adopted for pediatric surgery and neonatal resuscitation around the world."
"Now the same philosophies are being used to fight dementia. "That F1 mindset is probably the best problem-solving business out there," said Mark Stewart, the chairperson of Race Against Dementia, a British-headquartered charity that applies Formula One-style speed, precision and collaboration to scientific research on dementia, supporting early-career researchers globally with funding and specialized training."
"The group was founded a decade ago by Stewart's father Sir Jackie Stewart, a three-time F1 champion and one of the most successful drivers in racing history, after his wife Helen was diagnosed with dementia. Since then, RAD has raised more than $30 million to fund 87 researchers and 52 projects all over the world. But its biggest contribution to the fight against neurological disorders such as dementia isn't the money it has raised or even the work it has fu"
In the mid-1990s, Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and other hospitals lost young cardiac patients after complex heart surgery. Surgeons Alan Goldman and Martin Elliott sought solutions and noticed parallels between operating rooms and Formula One pit stops, where rigid spaces, repetitive moves, intense pressure, and precise communication are essential. They met with people at Scuderia Ferrari in Italy and adapted race-team functions for emergency-room use. The approach produced immediate improvements, leading to widespread adoption in pediatric surgery and neonatal resuscitation worldwide. Similar philosophies are now applied to dementia research through a charity that funds early-career researchers and provides specialized training and collaboration inspired by F1.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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