Team & Organisation

The size and complexity of CENTER-TBI necessitates a strong management structure. This will be implemented by close collaboration between Prof. Andrew Maas (UZA), the Project Coordinator and Prof. David Menon (UCAM) who will act as vice coordinator and co-chairman of the Management Committee. Their work will be supported by a Management Committee which will act as the executive body for the project, and facilitate coordination and integration of activities of all participants. In contrast to other, less complex collaborative projects, the Management Committee will be the decision making body of the consortium. This organisation will promote and efficient and effective management for this complex project. The Management Committee will report on project progress and is accountable to the General Assembly.

Prof. Andrew I.R. Maas from the Antwerp University Hospital will be the Project Coordinator of CENTER-TBI. He is the intermediary between the European Commission and the Consortium and as such will be responsible for all scientific activities of the consortium. Supervision of the overall progress of the project will be conducted in close collaboration with Prof. David Menon form the University of Cambridge as co-chairman of the Management Committee. Véronique De Keyser from the Antwerp University Hospital is the logistic and administrative coordinator for CENTER-TBI.

The management team works closely with the scientific leaders of the Work Packages that form the core of the CENTER-TBI project.
The list of Work Packages and their leaders is:

WP 1	TBI across Europe:CENTER-TBI Core Study & Registry	Andrew Maas
WP 2	Provider profiling and descriptive analyses	Ewout Steyerberg
WP 3	Genomics	Aarno Palotie
WP 4	Neuro-imaging	Jan Verheyden
WP 5	Biomarkers	Andras Buki
WP 6	ICU physiome: Optimising monitoring and treatment	Nino Stocchetti
WP 7	Epidemiology of TBI in Europe	Marek Majdan
WP 8	Phenotyping by CT and MR	David Menon
WP 9	Coagulopathy and platelet dysfunction	Marc Maegele
WP 10	Multi-dimensional outcome assessment	Nicole Von Steinbüchel
WP 11	Health utility indices and population health	Suzanne Polinder
WP 12	Disease characterisaion and outcome prediction	Ewout Steyerberg
WP 13	Effective clinical care and Precision Medicine	Hester Lingsma
WP 14	Transitions of care and post-acute care	Olli Tenovuo
WP 15	Prediction of recovery from coma and outcome	Louis Puybasset
WP 16	Embedded trials and associated studies	David Menon
WP 17	Internal and external validation of findings	Fiona Lecky
WP 18	Knowledge transfer and guideline development	Andrew Maas
WP 19	Communication, Education, Dissemination & Implementation	Giuseppe Citerio
WP 20	Neuroinformatics and biostatistics platform	Mathew Abrams
WP 22	International standardization and integration	Andrew Maas

The General Assembly is composed of all involved Participants. Each Participant has one vote.

The General Assembly consists of one representative of each Participant with authority to vote. All other non-voting researchers working for this project may join the meetings and discussions. The General Assembly is the body approving and amending decisions made by the Coordinators and/or the Management Committee. The main tasks of the General Assembly are:

• Grant proper implementation of the Participants respective rights and obligations in accordance with the contractual framework of the project and the Consortium Agreement
• Critically review, discuss, approve and/or amend executive decisions taken by the Management Committee
• Grant proper implementation of the Participants respective rights and obligations in accordance with the contractual framework of the project and the Consortium Agreement
• Critically review, discuss, approve and/or amend executive decisions taken by the Management Committee
• Decide upon withdrawal, inclusion and exclusion of Participants to the project
• Take preliminary decisions on the amendment of the Consortium Agreement (subject to ratification by the authorised legal representatives)
• Agree on standard operation procedures within CENTER-TBI, in relation to reporting procedures
• Agree on procedures and policies in accordance with the Grant Agreement, Annex II, Article 30 for dissemination of foreground and IPR
• Approve the provisional budgets, discuss and approve the annual executive budget and cost claims prepared by the Steering Committee including the reimbursements to the Participants.

The CENTER-TBI project consists of 37 participants and 10 associated participants, who will contribute their expertise and time to the project.
The CENTER-TBI participants will perform the scientific analyses.

The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) forms an important component of CENTER-TBI. The main role of the Advisory Board is to act as a sounding board for the Participants as ideas and results flow from the project. The Advisory Board will also help to maintain an appropriate balance between scientific and patient perspectives in the real world of the clinical management of patients with TBI. We recognize that much collective knowledge and wisdom is available amongst the Participants of CENTER-TBI, but place great value on an external and independent body to guide and support the Coordinators and Participants in this complex project.

The Scientific Advisory Board will consist of methodological and clinical experts as well as representatives of patient organisations. The Scientific Advisory Board will also include a member with ethical expertise who will also assume the role of external independent ethics advisor for the project and regulatory/pharmaceutical expert.

The Scientific Advisory Board will ensure a high standard of research and monitor the progress of the project by taking part in the annual General Assembly meetings and discussing progress and problems directly with the Management Committee. Whenever appropriate, it will consult the consortium and make recommendations as to improve their performance.