Fanshawe faculty member awarded major research grant

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: NICHOLAS TIBOLLO
Alan Batt, the paramedical professor leading a multinational team of researchers studying cardiac arrest in the Persian Gulf region, stands in front of mock ambulance doors in the School of Public Safety at Fanshawe College.

A multinational team of researchers, led by Fanshawe College School of Public Safety faculty member Alan Batt, has been awarded a ZOLL Foundation research grant to study cardiac arrest in the Gulf region.

The ZOLL Foundation, a non-profit charity headquartered in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, was established in 2013 by the ZOLL Medical Corporation to support resuscitation and acute critical care research.

Batt, a paramedic, researcher, and college professor with international experience across four continents, has taught in the Paramedic and Advanced Care Paramedic programs at Fanshawe since 2015.

The immensely talented instructor from Cork is currently completing his doctorate at Monash University and simultaneously serves as Vice-President of the Irish College of Paramedics and editor for the Journal of Irish Paramedicine.

Before coming to Fanshawe, Batt worked for over two years as a clinical educator and research paramedic in Abu Dhabi. His time overseas saw the development of several paramedical education programs and the publication of multiple peer-reviewed papers.

The ZOLL Foundation grant will enable Batt and his team to build upon his previous efforts to better understand instances of cardiac arrest in the area around the Persian Gulf. “The team will…review cardiac arrest literature from the region with the aim of synthesizing the data that exists in the published and grey literature. This will add significantly to our understanding of the issue in the [Gulf],” Batt said in an online post.

In the United Arab Emirates where Batt worked, like in many places across the globe, 30 per cent of all deaths are due to cardiovascular diseases. Some estimates, according to Gulf News, suggest that up to 70 per cent of the population may have, or be at risk of developing, some form of cardiovascular disease. Of course, heart disease and cardiac arrest go hand-in-hand. This is why Batt's work is so important.

With the funding, the well-travelled college professor will have the necessary resources to try and improve critical care for cardiac arrest patients and, in consequence, save lives.

Having received a research grant from the highly-respected ZOLL Foundation, Fanshawe now joins a select group of post-secondary institutes from across Canada and the U.S. that includes the University of Toronto and the University of Pennsylvania.

According to Research Infosource's most recent analysis, Fanshawe had the second highest research income out of all Canadian colleges in 2016/ 2017.

This increase in external support reveals a growing confidence in the ability of Fanshawe College to innovate, educate, and compete with any top-tier post-secondary school in the country.