The National Football League awarded Boston Children's Hospital $14.7 million to study former NFL players to better understand the long-term health effects of concussions.
The five-year study will be combined with a 2001 survey of former NFL players, providing a 20-year view of health outcomes. Researchers aim to better understand the risks associated with concussions and evaluate the efficacy of treatments and therapeutic strategies for chronic neurologic health problems.
William Meehan, MD, a physician and director of sports medicine at Boston Children's, will lead the study as principal investigator. Co-principal investigators on the study hail from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, and University Orthopedics Center in State College, Pa.
"There is a pressing need for data-driven approaches to better understand the risk, incidence, characteristics, progression, and treatment of neurologic health problems faced by former NFL players," Dr. Meehan said in a press release. "A data-driven approach is also needed to determine the potential effects of sport-related concussions and sub-concussive blows — including the potential for [chronic traumatic encephalopathy]."
This study will build on a decade of research into sport-related concussions and sub-concussive blows conducted at Boston Children's.
More articles on leadership and management:
Is Amazon too big to fail? No, says CEO Jeff Bezos
Scripps Health deploys medical response team in response to wildfires
Trump to award Presidential Medal of Freedom to Israeli physician