RED BANK, N.J. — In 2017, healthy Vienna Carly Savino tragically died at two and a half years of age. She fell asleep while watching TV in Holmdel, NJ and never woke up again. Her death was categorized as Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC). As a result, Dr. Denise Wunderler, DO, FAOASM, Vienna’s mother, founded Team Vienna 4 SUDC Awareness and co-founded the SUDC Coalition. She’s quickly gaining traction on the national and international stage in the field of SUDC education.
Most recently, the Dean of Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine (ARCOM), Dr. Rance McClain, made an official commitment to add SUDC to the yearly medical curriculum, beginning with the 2020-2021 academic school year.
“We are excited to team up with Dr. Wunderler and teach our students about this critical unknown topic,” McClain says.
The curriculum will likely begin with teaching SUDC with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) during the first two years of medical school, then reinforcing the information with a case study module based on Vienna’s tragic story, in the third year. Wunderler will work directly with the medical school to assist in these educational goals and continue her trailblazing efforts in honor of all SUDC kids. Other medical schools across the country have since committed to following a similar path and are working with her as well.
“ARCOM is the first medical school (to our knowledge) in the world to have made such an important commitment to cutting-edge knowledge for its medical students,” Wunderler says.
Over the past one and a half years, Wunderler has presented her Medical Grand Rounds lecture, “Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC): My Personal Tragedy,” multiple times. She’s appeared at Penn Medicine/Princeton Medical Center (NJ), Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (NJ), Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (Middletown, NY), Staten Island University Hospital (NY), Ocean Medical Center (NJ) and others.
“To our knowledge, SUDC is not officially included in any medical curriculum in the U.S. or any other country,” Wunderler says.
Shockingly, most physicians have never heard of SUDC, as was the case with Vienna’s parents – both physicians. They were familiar with SIDS, which applies to thoroughly investigated unexplained deaths in babies under one year old. SUDC addresses ages one through 18 years old. Even Vienna’s genetic studies (as part of a research study) did not reveal a cause of death. There are no causes and no preventative measures known for SUDC.
Dr. Wunderler has turned this personal tragedy into an educational opportunity. Her presentations have garnered glowing reviews and this peer-named, “superwoman” has had her lectures described as “passionate,” “wonderful,” powerful,” “sensitive,” “inspirational” and “moving.”
For more information: https://vienna.team/; and https://www.sudccoalition.com/
Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/TeamVienna4SUDCawareness
https://www.facebook.com/SUDCCO
@TeamVienna4SUDCawareness on Instagram
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-denise-wunderler-do-faoasm-a72684175/
About Team Vienna 4 SUDC Awareness Inc.
Team Vienna 4 SUDC Awareness Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based out of Red Bank, NJ. Its mission is awareness/education and research support for SUDC, while honoring Vienna. Wunderler, a sports medicine physician and USA Volleyball team physician, founded her family’s nonprofit on what should have been Vienna’s fourth birthday on January 19, 2019.
SUDC is a category of death in kids 1-18 years old, where the unexpected death is still unexplained after a thorough investigation, including an autopsy, medical record review and death scene investigation.
About the SUDC Coalition
The SUDC Coalition is a pending 501(c)(3) nonprofit, that is a new collective organization of non-profits, parents, physicians, researchers and advocates working together to accelerate SUDC awareness and research. Wunderler and Candice Nelson, president of The Vail Project in Colorado, are the co-founders.
VIDEO (YouTube): https://youtu.be/MvDNk9KxxkQ
CONTACT:
Dr. Denise Wunderler
of Team Vienna and The SUDC Coalition
TeamVienna2018@yahoo.com
*PHOTO link for media: https://www.send2press.com/300dpi/20-0825s2p-wunderler-vienna-300dpi.jpg
*Caption: Dr. Wunderler with her daughter Vienna, whose death was categorized as Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC)
Related link: https://vienna.team/
This news story was published by the Neotrope® News Network – all rights reserved.