Dr. E. Wesley Ely, MD, MPH is a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and the Associate Director for Research for the VA Tennessee Valley Geriatric Research and Education Clinical Center (GRECC). He is also the co-director of the Center for Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction, and Survivorship (CIBS) Center. He has a subspecialty training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and a particular passion for care of older critically ill patients. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Dr. Ely and the CIBS Center designed and conducted multiple federally and institutionally funded COVID-related investigations 

Dr. Ely’s research has focused on improving the care and outcomes of critically ill patients with ICU-acquired brain disease (manifested acutely as delirium and chronically as acquired dementia.) The CIBS Center has amassed thousands of patients into cohort studies and randomized trials answering vital questions about ICU acquired brain disease and other components of ICU survivorship. His team developed the primary tool (CAM-ICU, translated into 30+ languages) which is used to measure delirium in ICU-based trials and clinically at the bedside in ICUs worldwide. Dr. Ely has been continuously federally funded (NIA and/or VA) for over 15 years. He has over 450 peer-reviewed publications and over 50 published book chapters and editorials.