$35M in grants given for concussion-related research

The NFL has awarded more than $35 million in grants to fund medical research into brain health and injuries, the league said Thursday.

The grants were made as part of a $100 million initiative announced by the league in 2016. Under that initiative, which the NFL called “Play Safe. Play Smart,” the league said it would devote $60 million to technological research, including attempts to improve helmet safety for players, and $40 million toward the funding of medical research into the effects of head injuries.

The NFL established what it called an independent scientific advisory board of doctors, scientists and clinicians to identify and support research proposals.

The grants were made to research projects evaluated and chosen by that scientific advisory board, the NFL said. That panel was chaired by Peter Chiarelli, a retired U.S. Army general who is the chief executive officer of One Mind, a nonprofit organization focused on the diagnosis and treatment of traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress.

“What we wanted to promote was translational research, research that was going to help patients understand the disease today. … We feel very strongly that the research we recommended to the NFL is going to do just that,” Chiarelli said in a phone interview.

The advisory board reviewed 129 proposals, whittled that to eight finalists and recommended five of those eight to the NFL for funding. The NFL accepted all five recommendations, according to Chiarelli, who said the research will have applications beyond football.

“This is a public health problem that’s significant, that doesn’t just affect football players and soldiers,” he said.

The largest award announced Thursday was a nearly $14.7 million grant to Boston Children’s Hospital and the Harvard Medical School for a study to assess the neurological health and track the progress of a group of as many as 2,500 former NFL players originally assessed in 2001. As the research, being led by William P. Meehan III, nears its conclusion, the NFL said, players who exhibit impairment will be eligible for clinical trials of promising treatments.

The NFL said it awarded $9.4 million to a University of Calgary study of concussions suffered by high school student-athletes; nearly $6.1 million to a study of brain health of retired football players by the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; nearly $3.5 million to a University of California-San Francisco study of clinical knowledge and research into traumatic brain injury; and nearly $1.6 million to a study by the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Harvard Medical School into brain injuries suffered by young athletes in football, hockey, soccer, rugby and other collision sports.

The University of Pittsburgh study is to compare the rates of brain injuries and disease in retired football players to those of a control group.

The remaining $5 million of medical funding toward the $40 million commitment has been allocated to research on player health and safety under the guidance of Chiarelli, the NFL said.