Wolf Creek XVIII Part 1: advancing resuscitation science

The Wolf Creek Conference, initiated in 1975, provides a unique forum for robust intellectual exchange between thought leaders and scientists from academia and industry focused on advancing the science and practice of cardiac arrest resuscitation. The 50th year anniversary Wolf Creek XVIII Conference was hosted by the Max Harry Weil Institute for Critical Care Research and Innovation in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, on June 19-21, 2025. A major focus of the conference proceedings was to identify and prioritize knowledge gaps, barriers to translation, and research priorities for six major domains in the field of resuscitation: (1) optimizing time intervals in cardiac arrest care, (2) innovations in defibrillation science, (3) innovations in extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) technology, (4) cardiac arrest survivorship science, (5) transforming clinical trial design in cardiac arrest research, and (6) strategies to optimize international collaboration in cardiac arrest research. In addition, industry scientists and academic investigators were given the opportunity to present and discuss cutting edge innovations. Finally, the "Wolf Creek Innovator Award" competition recognized early career investigators who were challenging current paradigms in resuscitation science. The overall goal was to fuel active discussion and debate among emerging and established experts and steer the future direction of research efforts in the field. This manuscript provides an overview of the conference, which is expanded upon in the individual manuscripts within this special edition of Resuscitation Plus. The intent of these publications is to provide a roadmap for impactful academic and commercial advances in the field of cardiac arrest resuscitation.