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Canadian Medical Experts
Canadian Medical Experts
Dr. Joel Fish
Dr. Joel Fish
Dr. Joel Fish's research has been foundational in demonstrating the long-term impact of electrical injuries, particularly from low-voltage sources. His work helped establish the electrical injury program at St. John's Rehab, Canada's only specialized facility for clinically treating and researching these injuries.
Dr. Fish's pivotal 2008 study, "Long-Term Sequelae of Low-Voltage Electrical Injury," challenged the assumption that low-voltage shocks were benign. The study found a high incidence of long-term problems, with neurological symptoms affecting a majority of patients and psychological symptoms also being very common.
Key findings revealed that patients with low-voltage injuries reported more frequent long-term neurological and psychological symptoms than those with high-voltage injuries. The study also documented that these debilitating symptoms often have a delayed onset, appearing months after the initial injury.
A separate study co-authored by Dr. Fish found that only a small percentage of patients were able to return to their same job duties after an electrical burn, and a significant portion could not return to work at all. This research helped quantify the devastating impact on a survivor's professional life.
Dr. Marc Jeschke
Dr. Marc Jeschke
The medical community's understanding of electrical injuries has evolved from a focus on visible burns to a recognition of a complex, multi-system trauma.
Dr. Marc Jeschke's work has been instrumental in this paradigm shift. He emphasizes that many of the most debilitating symptoms of electrical injury are "invisible" to standard diagnostic tools, leading to a profound disconnect between test results and a patient's suffering.
Dr. Jeschke's research, including a key study contrasting high-voltage and low-voltage injuries, revealed that while high-voltage injuries cause more severe acute complications, the long-term neuropsychological and social consequences are severe for both groups.
Common long-term issues for survivors include insomnia, anxiety, and depressed mood. The study also found that a significant percentage of patients were unable to return to any form of work, with similar rates for both high-voltage and low-voltage groups.
Dr. Jeschke advocates for continued research and early, individualized interventions to improve patient outcomes.
American Medical Experts
American Medical Experts
CETRI's principal mission is to advance the treatment of electrical injury through research. We collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of specialists who have over 35 years of experience working with and treating electrical injuries, and many of whom are foundational members of the field. Through multidisciplinary research, clinical care, and educational outreach, our team works to develop diagnostic tools and methods for more effective therapies for electrical injury survivors.
Dr. Raphael Lee
Dr. Raphael Lee
Dr. Raphael Lee's research has been foundational in understanding the fundamental science behind the "invisible injury." As a co-founder of the Chicago Electrical Trauma Research Institute, his work has explained how an electric shock causes such widespread and lasting damage at a microscopic level.
Dr. Lee’s pivotal research on electroporation challenged the long-held assumption that all damage from electricity was purely thermal (burns).
His work demonstrated that electrical forces can create microscopic pores in cell membranes, disrupting their function and leading to cell death. This non-thermal damage is particularly devastating to long cells like nerves and muscles, which explains why survivors often experience diffuse, widespread neurological symptoms and chronic pain far from the original contact points.
Dr. Lee's research provides the crucial scientific validation for the survivor experience, proving that the most profound injuries are often cellular and cannot be seen on standard medical scans.
Dr. Neil Pliskin
Dr. Neil Pliskin
Dr. Neil Pliskin's research has been foundational in validating the profound neuropsychological impact of electrical injuries. As a leading expert and co-founder of the Chicago Electrical Trauma Research Institute, his work has provided the clinical evidence for the cognitive and emotional struggles that survivors face.
Dr. Pliskin’s pivotal controlled studies challenged the assumption that these symptoms were merely psychological reactions to trauma.
His research demonstrated that electrical injury survivors perform significantly worse on measures of attention, mental speed, and memory compared to control groups. His work also documented the high incidence of psychiatric disorders like PTSD and depression, noting that these debilitating symptoms often have a delayed onset or increase in severity months after the initial injury.
This research provides the clinical proof that validates a survivor's experience. It confirms that challenges like "brain fog," memory loss, and emotional distress are measurable neuropsychological consequences of the injury, requiring specialized diagnosis and care.
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