University of Pittsburgh

Ava Puccio, RN, PhD

Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery & Nursing
Co-Director, Neurotrauma Clinical Trials Center
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Biography
 	

	
Ava M. Puccio, RN, PhD, received her bachelor of science degree at the University of Pittsburgh in 1988 majoring in neuroscience. While working as a laboratory technician for several years, Dr. Puccio pursued a nursing degree and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a bachelor in nursing in 1994, graduating summa cum laude.
Dr. Puccio joined the Department of Neurological Surgery as a nurse coordinator on the National Acute Brain Injury Study: Hypothermia (NABIS:H) study and also the coordinator for the Brain Trauma Research Center in 1995.
Throughout her years of employment as a nurse coordinator, she pursued part-time advanced schooling to graduate with a master’s in nursing from the University of Pittsburgh in 2000. Dr. Puccio graduated as a university scholar (top 2% of class) from the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing with a doctoral degree, emphasis in neuroscience in 2008. Her dissertation was entitled, ‘Effect of short periods of normobaric hyperoxia on local brain tissue oxygenation and cerebrospinal fluid oxidative stress markers in severe traumatic brain injury,’ and was published in the Journal of Neurotrauma in 2009.
Dr. Puccio was appointed associate scientist at the Safar Center for Resuscitative Research at the University of Pittsburgh upon completion of her doctorate degree in 2008. This was a reflection of her past and continuing collaborations with Patrick Kochanek, MD, C. Edward Dixon, PhD, and Hulya Bayir, MD, as well as multiple critical care Medicine fellows.
Dr. Puccio was appointed research associate in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh in 2009, and assistant professor in 2010. Dr. Puccio received her adjunct faculty position with The School of Nursing, Department of Acute/Tertiary Care in 2010.
Her research has focused on improving outcomes in traumatic brain injury patients, with clinical venues of controlled normothermia, mechanisms of brain oxygenations and exploring genetic variances and expression on outcome.
Dr. Puccio's publications can be reviewed through the National Library of Medicine's publication database.
Board Certifications
RN License: Pennsylvania
Professional Organization Membership
Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society 
Society of Critical Care Medicine 
National Neurotrauma Society 
Eastern Nursing Research Society 
Women in Neurotrauma Research (WINTR)
	
	





	
Research Activities
	
	

	
The ultimate goal of Dr. Puccio’s career trajectory is to research innovative treatment paradigms for individualized care of TBI patients, with an emphasis on the secondary injury mechanisms following TBI. Mechanisms include temperature management, brain oxygenation optimization and genetic influences including variations and genomic (for example hypoxic signaling). In addition, Dr. Puccio is interested in investigating the metabolic consequences of a severe TBI through formal calorimetry in association with a biological profile of nutritional state and ultimately, correlation to the neurological outcome of the adult patient following severe TBI.
 
Current translational studies in pharmacotherapy in TBI patients include a dose-escalation study to evaluate the safety, pharmacokinetics and preliminary evidence of the neuroprotective effect of NNZ-2566 in patients with moderate to severe TBI (GCS 4-12) and also the effect of progesterone on the severe TBI patient (David O. Okonkwo, MD, PhD, prinicipal investigator).
 
Additional clinical studies include the prospective collection of demographics, blood and cerebrospinal fluid and neurological outcomes for the Brain Trauma Research Center (PI: C. Edward Dixon, PhD, Clinical Core PI: David O. Okonkwo, MD, PhD) and genetic repositories (severe TBI, PI: Yvette Conley, PhD; moderate/mild TBI co-PI: David O. Okonkwo, MD, PhD). Collaborative research with the University of Cincinnati (PI: Jed Hartings, PhD) examining the impact of brain seizure-like activity (spreading depressions) on recovery from TBI, and with the University of California, San Francisco (PI: Geoff Manley, MD, PhD) examining and refining a standard for data collection in TBI studies, suitable for use across the broad spectrum of TBI and to explore novel approaches for classification of the initial injury severity and outcome after TBI, making use of emerging technology. Collaborative translational research with industry to validate a commercial handheld field-portable serum biomarker test for detection of a TBI in the military setting (PI: C. Edward Dixon, PhD).