Clinical Interests
Dr. Philip C. Spinella is the Director of the Pediatric Critical Care Translational Research Program at St. Louis Children's Hospital and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Spinella earned his Bacelor of Arts degree in Biology (1991) at Tufts University, and his Medical Degree (1995) at New York Medical College. Following residency in Pediatrics at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, HI, he served as Chief of Pediatric In-patient and Outpatient Services at Bayne-Jones Army Medical Center at Fort Polk, LA (1998-2000). Dr. Spinella then completed a fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (2003). After fellowship he served as teh Assistant Chief of Pediatric Critical Care at Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio (2003-2007). During this time he was deployed to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom for one year (2004-2005). It was during this deployment that Dr. Spinella's interest in the efficacy and safety of blood products for the treatment of shock and coagulopathy developed. Since this experience he has developed a research program that focuses on understanding the mechanisms related to adverse events secondary to the transfusion of blood products and perfroming clinical trials to determine the efficacy and safety of blood products. He came to Washington University in 2010 to assume leadership of the Pediatric Critical Care Translational Research Program. Dr. Spinella served 15 years in the US Army and separated as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2007. He is a veteran of the Iraq War, where he received a Bronze Star and the Combat Medic Badge for providing care under fire. In collaboration with investigators at the US Army Institute of Surgical Research, his groundbreaking work in the area of treatment of hemorrhagic shock received the US Army's Best Invention Award in 2008 for his role in the development of the concept of "damage control resuscitation". Dr. Spinella co-founded and is the co-Chair of the Trauma Hemostasis and Oxugenation Research (THOR) Network, which is an international multidisciplinary network of civilian and military providers ranging from first responders/medics to critical care physicians, as well as from basic scientists to clinical trialists. Since 2011, THOR has organized and sponsored a Remote Damage Control Resuscitation annual conference with civilian and military attendees encompassing 18 countries. The conference has led to national policty changes regarding the care of patients with traumatic hemorrhagic shock in the pre-hospital phase of resuscitation in countries such as Israel, Australia, Canada, France, Norway, and the United Kingdom, as well as policy changes at multiple trauma centers in the US. Dr. Spinella is a consultant to the US Army Blood Research Program at the US Army Institute of Surgical Research, and the Norwegian Navy Blood Research Program. He has organized a full day conference at the White House for the National Security Service after teh Boston Marathon bombing in response to the concern for an adequate blood supply for large terrorist attacks that cause a significant number of casualties with hemorrhagic shock. This responsibility was based on his experience consulting for the Commitee on Emergency Preparedness led by Homeland Security and the Public Health Service for the Northeast Region from 2006-2008. In addition, he has also briefed the US Department of Defense on advancements in the area of trauma resuscitation. In 2015, Dr. Spinella was appointed by the Institute of Medicine as a member on the Committee of Military Trauma Care's Learning Health System and its Translation to the Civilian Sector. Dr. Spinella is also a co-founder and Chair of the Pediatric Critical Care Blood Research Network (Blood Net). Blood Net is an international network of approximately 90 members from 4 countries with a mission to improve outcomes in critically ill children by supporting and performing research in transfusion medicine, hemostasis and blood management. Dr. Spinella is a well-established investigator who ahs been awarded approximately 20 million dollars in funding from the US Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health. Currently he is a Principal Investigator of 2 randomized controlled trials. The ABC-PICU trial examines the effect of RBC storage age on outcomes in critically ill children. The TAMPITI trial examines the immunologic effect of tranexamic acid in patients with severe traumatic injuries.