(Oxford, UK) – BT Sport hosted the Concussion Legacy Foundation (CLF)’s Concussion Reporting Workshop PRO in late March, becoming the first sports media outlet in the world to offer the training. The Workshop is part of the CLF Media Project, the first and only concussion education program designed specifically for sports media members.

“Improving our understanding and research into concussion in sport is a subject that I am hugely passionate about, and whilst it is extremely important that we understand the impact in training, in the game and on our bodies, we the sports media can also play our part in ensuring that we report and describe concussion and head impacts correctly, so that our viewers understand what they are seeing on the field and the correct response,” said Ben Kay, Rugby Analyst for BT Sport. “The presentation taught us how to cover the injury while still dealing in facts, something which I would encourage all sports broadcasters to invest their time in learning about.”

CLF presented two Workshop sessions, one to cricket and boxing staff and another for football and rugby personnel. BT Sport producers, reporters, and presenters had the opportunity to ask CLF co-founders Dr. Robert Cantu and Dr. Chris Nowinski questions as they learned the basics of concussion, the dos and don’ts of reporting on concussion, and the importance of concussion reporting to educate hard-to-reach coaches, parents, and athletes.

“The UK is many years behind the US in terms of understanding and dealing with concussion in sport,” said Dr Adam J. White, Executive Director of CLF UK. “It is great that an organisation as influential as BT Sport is taking this step to educate their team on the proper standards for concussion coverage and shows tremendous leadership on responsible reporting. Every concussion on TV is an opportunity to educate, so when a commentator highlights the importance of concussion, it reinforces to every spectator, athlete, kid, and parent why we should be taking concussions seriously.”

CLF launched the Media Project, which includes three parts: a Concussion Reporting Certification for sports media professionals, a Concussion Reporting Workshop for sports journalism students, and the Concussion Reporting Workshop PRO for sports media outlets, in 2018. Sports media veterans J.A. Adande, Bob Costas, Andrea Kremer, and Olivia Stomski helped CLF create the curriculum for the Media Project and serve as advisors for the program. More than 140 sports media professionals are now Concussion Reporting Certified, and the Concussion Reporting Workshop has been taught in 54 classes at 24 schools in the US and UK including St. Mary’s University Twickenham and Bournemouth University.

Sports media outlets interested in offering a Concussion Reporting Workshop PRO to their staffs can learn more here and contact CLF Education Programs Manager Brandon Boyd at [email protected]. Sports media professional interested in becoming Concussion Reporting Certified can take the certification quiz here.
Press Release

Houston Tumlin died by suicide in 2021 at age 28, suffered from PTSD

(Boston) – The family of Houston Tumlin, a decorated U.S. Army Veteran and former child actor, is announcing today that Veterans Affairs-Boston University-Concussion Legacy Foundation (VA-BU-CLF) Brain Bank researchers diagnosed the Talladega Nights star with stage 1 chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Tumlin died by suicide in March 2021 at the age of 28. Tumlin’s family is releasing the findings of his brain study to help raise awareness of CTE in the military community and encourage Veterans to support CLF’s Project Enlist by signing up to donate their brain to research.

“My son was always confident and talented, but the last year of his life he lost his spark and drive,” said Michelle Tumlin, Houston’s mother. “My heart stopped when I realized he had all the symptoms of CTE, and now I’m determined to keep his memory alive by educating the world about the brain injuries our Veterans are suffering with and I will never stop trying to find ways to support them.”

Houston Tumlin, a former child actor and model, is remembered for his humor in the role of Walker Bobby, the oldest son of Will Ferrell’s character in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

Tumlin began playing tackle football when he was six years old. He suffered several concussions throughout his middle and high school playing days in Pell City, AL which led to lifelong headaches. In 2014, Tumlin enlisted in the U.S. Army where he served in the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell. Tumlin was most proud of serving his country and earning his Air Assault Badge. He was awarded the Army Achievement Medal and the Army Commendation Medal, before leaving the military in 2019. When he returned home, Michelle Tumlin says her son was depressed, struggled with mood swings, anger issues, and night terrors.

“Although we continue to find CTE in the brains of young amateur athletes and military servicemembers, we will never get used to it,” said Dr. Ann McKee, chief of neuropathology for the VA Boston Healthcare System and director of the BU CTE Center and VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank. “We will never stop our efforts to find ways to prevent this preventable disease and to diagnose and treat CTE during life. Our thoughts and prayers remain with Houston’s family.”

The Department of Defense has reported more than 430,000 traumatic brain injuries among servicemembers in the last 20 years. Veterans who have suffered a concussion have double the risk of suicide.

CLF’s Project Enlist is working to accelerate finding answers to CTE and prevent suicide by encouraging Veterans and their families to donate the brains of deceased servicemembers to the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank.

The VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank has studied more than 700 football players, and the majority of them have been diagnosed with CTE. Many Veterans, like Tumlin, are former contact sport athletes. Researchers are concerned former contact sport athletes who may already have CTE or increased CTE risk who go on to serve in the military, receive additional head impact exposure, and develop PTSD, may have a heightened risk for worse clinical outcomes.

“We are grateful to the Tumlin family for speaking publicly about Houston’s diagnosis and struggles,” said Dr. Chris Nowinski, CLF co-founder and CEO. “Houston is one of now multiple former football players who went on to serve in the military and receive a clinical diagnosis of PTSD before dying by suicide. We need better answers for Veterans and their families and brain bank research is an essential step in understanding the perfect storm of TBI, CTE and PTSD so we can protect and support the heroes who courageously fight for our nation.”

The Tumlin family has created a chartable organization, Houston Project, Inc. in Houston’s name to deliver hope to hurting Veterans.

The Concussion Legacy Foundation encourages all active servicemembers and Veterans to pledge to donate their brain to Project Enlist to advance research at ProjectEnlist.org.

Poll: Americans are worried about CTE, want NFL to stop recruiting children to tackle football

71% of Americans believe it is inappropriate for the NFL to recruit children to tackle football

(Boston) – A new national poll conducted by the Samford University Center for Sports Analytics in collaboration with the Concussion Legacy Foundation (CLF) found that because of CTE concerns, 71% of the 1,311 Americans polled believe it is inappropriate for the NFL to recruit children to tackle football.

According to official funding announcements, the NFL has spent more than $100 million to recruit children to youth tackle football since 2000, and the Super Bowl often features advertisements focused on recruiting children and their parents through brands like NFL Play Football.

“When he started playing tackle football in fourth grade his dream was the NFL,” said Greg Tuerk, father of former NFL and USC offensive lineman Max Tuerk, who died in 2020 at age 26 after struggling with severe mental health challenges. “He was so proud to achieve that dream, but we believe it cost him his mental health.”

After his death, researchers at the Veterans Affairs-Boston University-Concussion Legacy Foundation (VA-BU-CLF) Brain Bank diagnosed Tuerk with stage 1 CTE.

“To all my former colleagues at the NFL: please stop recruiting young children to play tackle football,” said Pro Football Hall of Fame member Mike Haynes, also a former NFL Vice President of Player and Employee Development. “If children wait until age 15 to play tackle football like I did, future football players will have a dramatically lower risk of CTE and will lose nothing in terms of developing the skills that could one day provide them a career playing professional football. It’s the right thing to do.”

The poll also revealed that 69% of former tackle football players, and 77% of Americans overall, support state governments banning tackle football for children before age 12. Since 2018, bills have been introduced in Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, and California to ban youth tackle football, but none have yet succeeded.

A 2019 study of 266 deceased former football players from the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank found the more years one plays football, the greater their odds of developing CTE. Odds increase by 30% per year played, meaning they double every 2.5 years. As of 2021, sixteen of the first 65 high school football players studied at the Brain Bank have been diagnosed with CTE.

More Americans than ever are now worried about CTE in football. 93% of those surveyed believe CTE is “certainly or probably” a serious public health issue. That number has increased from 87% in a prior poll conducted in 2016.

Other findings include:

• 72% of Americans believe tackle football should not be introduced until at least age 14.
• Respondents were concerned about informed consent for children. 77% of respondents believed NFL players are “well-educated on the long-term risks associated with repeated head trauma, such as CTE.” However, that number drops to 41% for high-school football players and 27% of youth football players.

Those surveyed agreed it is primarily the responsibility of parents to ensure children are protected from CTE, yet only 31% agree that parents are well-educated on the risk of CTE. The family of Max Tuerk wants to make educating parents across the country a priority.

“Now that the risks are well documented and we know the potential consequences, we need to educate parents about the risks associated with playing tackle football before high school,” said Greg Tuerk.

The poll of 1,311 American adults was conducted by the Center for Sports Analytics at Samford University. The Concussion Legacy Foundation assisted in developing the questions and provided funding support. Participants for the study were selected by conducting a random and demographically balanced sample of adults in the United States. Qualtrics was used to develop and administer the poll. Data collection began in September 2020 and continued for one year. More information on the poll methodology and polling data are available here.

About The Center for Sports Analytics at Samford University:

The Center for Sports Analytics at Samford University promotes the ethically centered, rational inquiry into issues at the burgeoning intersection of big data, analytics, and sports. It seeks to be an international thought leader in the emerging field of sports analytics by providing a forum for industry professionals and students to learn about the increasing role of analytics in the global sports industry. The center’s mission encompasses all areas where analytics impacts sports, including fan engagement, sponsorship, player tracking, sports medicine, sports media and operations.

(Boston) – The family of Vincent Jackson is announcing today that VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank researchers diagnosed the former NFL wide receiver with stage 2 chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Jackson passed away in February 2021 at age 38. Jackson’s family is releasing the findings of his brain study to help raise awareness for CTE and its risks.

“Vincent dedicated so much of his life to helping others. Even in his passing, I know he would want to continue that same legacy,” said Lindsey Jackson, Vincent’s widow. “By donating his brain to the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, we hope to continue to see advancements in CTE research, enabling physicians to diagnose the disease in the living and ultimately find treatment options in the future. There is still a lot to be understood about CTE, and education is the key to prevention. The conversation around this topic needs to be more prevalent, and our family hopes that others will feel comfortable and supported when talking about CTE moving forward.”

Lindsey Jackson supports prevention efforts like CLF’s Flag Football Under 14 program, which urges parents to wait to enroll their children in tackle football until age 14. According to a Boston University study, a football player’s odds of developing CTE may increase by as much as 30% per year played. Jackson played 23 years of tackle football, beginning at age 12. He retired in 2018 after 12 seasons in the NFL where he reached three Pro Bowls with the San Diego Chargers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

CTE is a progressive degenerative brain disease caused by repetitive head trauma. Stage 2 CTE is associated with behavioral symptoms like aggression, impulsivity, depression, anxiety, paranoia, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation, along with progressive cognitive symptoms. Stage 4 is the most severe stage and is usually associated with dementia.

“Vincent Jackson was a brilliant, disciplined, gentle giant whose life began to change in his mid-30s. He became depressed, with progressive memory loss, problem solving difficulties, paranoia, and eventually extreme social isolation,” said Dr. Ann McKee, chief of neuropathology for the VA Boston Healthcare System and director of the BU CTE Center and VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank. “That his brain showed stage 2 CTE should no longer surprise us; these results have become commonplace. What is surprising is that so many football players have died with CTE and so little is being done to make football, at all levels, safer by limiting the number of repetitive subconcussive hits. CTE will not disappear by ignoring it, we need to actively address the risk that football poses to brain health and to support the players who are struggling.”

Jackson was known for his kindness and generosity. He was the Buccaneers’ nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award four of the five years he was there.

“We thank the Jackson family for supporting CTE research after such a terrible tragedy,” said Chris Nowinski, PhD, CLF CEO and co-founder and a former football player at Harvard. “More than 300 NFL players have been diagnosed with CTE. I hope current and former NFL players of Mr. Jackson’s generation see this as a wake-up call and get off the sideline in the fight against CTE. If a four-time Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee who never had a diagnosed concussion can lose his fight against CTE at just 38, it can happen to anyone.”

Asking for privacy, the Jackson family will have no further comment and will not be speaking with media under any circumstances.

Former and current NFL players and their families worried about possible CTE symptoms can reach out to the CLF HelpLine for support. The HelpLine staff provides personalized resources and recommendations for treatment.

Adams, 32, died by suicide during a standoff with police in Rock Hill, South Carolina

(Boston) – Neuropathologists at the Boston University CTE Center have found that former NFL player Phillip Adams had stage 2 chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Adams died by suicide at age 32 in April 2021 after fatally shooting six people in Rock Hill, SC.

York County, SC, coroner Sabrina Gast facilitated the brain donation to the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank and BU CTE researchers conducted a post-mortem study of his brain. CLF is releasing the findings upon request from the Adams family, who hope going public with the diagnosis will prevent other families from experiencing similar tragedies.

“As we process these results, we are deeply saddened by the events that occurred on April 7 and we continue to pray for the families of the victims,” the family of Phillip Adams said in a statement. “We are pleased to have a better understanding of the mental turmoil that Phillip was dealing with during the last moments of his life. We cannot say that we are surprised by these results, however it is shocking to hear how severe his condition was.”

CTE is a progressive degenerative brain disease caused by repetitive head trauma, and CTE stage is most closely associated with age of death. Most football players diagnosed with CTE in their 30s have stage 2 CTE. Stage 4 is the most severe stage and is usually associated with dementia.

CTE has been associated with behavioral symptoms like aggression, impulsivity, explosivity, depression, anxiety, paranoia, and suicidal ideation, along with progressive cognitive symptoms.

“Phillip Adams had an extraordinary amount of CTE pathology in the frontal lobe, the area of the brain behind the forehead. Frontal lobe damage is associated with violent, impulsive or explosive behavior, a “short fuse,” and lack of self-control,” said Dr. Ann McKee, chief of neuropathology for the VA Boston Healthcare System and director of the BU CTE Center and VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank. “His CTE pathology might have contributed to his abnormal behaviors, in addition to other physical, psychiatric and psychosocial factors. His predominantly frontal lobe CTE pathology, which resulted in atrophy, or shrinkage, of the brain, was similar in severity to Aaron Hernandez.”

According to a previous study of CTE in football players by the same research team, a football player’s odds of developing CTE may increase by as much as 30% per year played. Adams played 21 years of tackle football, beginning at age 7. He retired in 2016 after six seasons in the NFL.

“All behavior originates in the brain, and the discovery of the brain disease CTE in Phillip Adams should serve as an urgent call to action to better understand this historically neglected disease,” said Chris Nowinski, PhD, CLF CEO and co-founder. “The idea that playing a sport Adams first enrolled in at seven years old could be the inciting factor leading to six innocent people dying, along with Adams, is a hypothesis we need to explore as we try to prevent these senseless tragedies in the future.”

Full statement from the family of Phillip Adams:

As we process these results, we are deeply saddened by the events that occurred on April 7 and we continue to pray for the families of the victims. We are pleased to have a better understanding of the mental turmoil that Phillip was dealing with during the last moments of his life. We cannot say that we are surprised by these results, however it is shocking to hear how severe his condition was. After going through medical records from his football career, we do know that he was desperately seeking help from the NFL but was denied all claims due to his inability to remember things and to handle seemingly simple tasks such as traveling hours away to see doctors and going through extensive evaluations. We now know that these deficits were most likely caused by the disease. By participating in the research process, we hope to bring awareness to this condition so that players young and old can understand the risks. We will continue to advocate for any research that can prevent any other families from having to endure this type of tragedy. We want people to understand that this could happen to anyone. Phillip is not the first to battle with this disease and he will not be the last. Thank you so much to Boston University, the Concussion Legacy Foundation, the VA, and all of the folks that have helped us and many other families to get these much-needed answers.

Asking for privacy, the Adams family will have no further comment and will not be speaking with media about Phillip’s CTE diagnosis.

Former and current NFL players and their families worried about possible CTE symptoms can reach out to the CLF HelpLine for support. The HelpLine staff provides personalized resources and recommendations for treatment.

Dean diagnosis coincides with release of new brain imaging study that reveals a path to diagnosing CTE during life

(Boston) – The widow of Pro Football Hall of Famer Fred Dean is sharing his CTE diagnosis publicly to honor his legacy and encourage support for research to diagnose the disease in the living. Researchers at the Veterans Affairs-Boston University-Concussion Legacy Foundation (VA-BU-CLF) Brain Bank posthumously diagnosed Dean with advanced CTE, stage 3 out of 4 possible stages, with 4 being the most severe. His family donated his brain after his passing from complications of Covid-19 in October 2020 at age 68.

“Fred always knew something was wrong with his brain, but he could never prove it,” said Pam Dean, Fred’s widow. “We are very thankful to the VA-BU-CLF researchers for finally giving us a name to put to his struggles. We hope families like ours will continue to donate their loved one’s brain and living players will volunteer for research so the experts can learn how to diagnose and treat this horrible disease while those suffering are still alive.”

Fred Dean was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008 for his prolific career as a defensive end for the San Diego Chargers and San Francisco 49ers. The sack specialist helped lead the 1981 and 1984 San Francisco 49ers to Super Bowl victories and was selected to four Pro Bowl rosters. Pam Dean says Fred’s memory began to fade in his 60s, and daily tasks became hard to complete on his own, which is likely attributable to the progression of his CTE. Fred also suffered with chronic headaches for decades after a serious concussion he sustained on the field in his early 20s. His headaches were likely independent of his CTE.

A new study published Tuesday in Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy by researchers at the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank provides the best evidence to date that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may expedite the ability to diagnose CTE with confidence in the living. If the finding is validated, it will help former athletes like Dean who experience CTE symptoms but struggle to get support without a formal diagnosis.

Researchers found that participants diagnosed with CTE post-mortem had shrinkage in regions of the brain associated with CTE compared with healthy controls.

“Specifically, those with CTE had shrinkage in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, the regions most impacted by CTE,” said corresponding author Jesse Mez, MD, MS, director of the Boston University (BU) Alzheimer’s Disease Center Clinical Core and a BU CTE Center Investigator. “Subjects diagnosed with CTE were also seven time more likely than controls to have a cavum septum pellucidum, a distinctive abnormality easily seen on MRI.”

Researchers compared the MRIs of 55 men diagnosed with CTE to 31 male healthy controls with normal cognition at the time of their scan.

“MRI is commonly used to diagnose progressive brain diseases that are similar to CTE such as Alzheimer’s disease,” said first author Michael Alosco, PhD, associate professor of neurology at BU School of Medicine, co-director of BU Alzheimer’s Disease Center Clinical Core, and a lead BU CTE Center investigator. “Findings from this study show us what we can expect to see on MRI in CTE. This is very exciting because it brings us that much closer to detecting CTE in living people.”

Interview requests for the family of Fred Dean should be sent to Julia Manning at [email protected]. Those interested in speaking to study authors can direct their requests to Gina DiGravio at [email protected].

About the Concussion Legacy Foundation:

The Concussion Legacy Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It was founded by Robert Cantu, MD, and Chris Nowinski, PhD, to support athletes, Veterans, and all affected by concussions and CTE; achieve smarter sports and safer athletes through education and innovation; and to End CTE through prevention and research. For more information, please visit ConcussionFoundation.org.

About the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank:

The VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank is a partnership between the VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston University School of Medicine, and the Concussion Legacy Foundation, led by Dr. Ann McKee. It is the world’s largest CTE brain bank with subspecialties in concussion, ALS, and other consequences of brain trauma. The VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank has diagnosed more than 70 percent of confirmed CTE cases globally. Click here for more information

NFL analyst Ross Tucker designed custom shoes to spotlight urgent need for CTE research, player support

(Boston) – For the first time, The Concussion Legacy Foundation (CLF) will be featured as a selected charitable organization for the NFL’s My Cause My Cleats campaign. Westwood One NFL analyst and former NFL offensive lineman Ross Tucker chose CLF as his charitable organization, designing a custom shoe featuring images of brains ravaged by CTE and likenesses of former NFL players Junior Seau and Tom McHale, who were both posthumously diagnosed with CTE.

“As a former football player, CTE is an issue close to my heart,” said Tucker, who played seven seasons in the NFL. “I’ve known CLF co-founder Dr. Chris Nowinski since I had to block him in college and watching what he and his team are doing to advance CTE research, make the game safer, and help former players and their families who are struggling is inspiring.”

Tucker has been a longtime advocate for CTE awareness, pledging to donate his brain to CLF for research in 2012. CLF is a founding collaborator in the Boston University CTE Center and the world-leading VA-Boston University-CLF Brain Bank, which has studied the brains of more than 350 deceased NFL players.

On one shoe, Tucker has chosen to honor his former opponent Junior Seau, the Pro Football Hall of Famer who died by suicide in 2013 at age 43. Seau’s daughter Sydney gave the family’s blessing to his depiction.

“I vividly remember playing against Junior Seau in 2003 and specifically remember a couple of collisions with Junior in that game,” Tucker said. “Now that I know what they can do to a football player’s brain and how CTE can impact a family, I’m committed to doing my part to help the Concussion Legacy Foundation team learn how to diagnose and treat this terrible disease.”

Tucker’s other shoe honors Tom McHale, who, like Tucker, was an All-Ivy League offensive lineman before playing nine years in the NFL. Tucker first learned about CTE when McHale died in 2008 at the age of 45 and became the sixth NFL player diagnosed with CTE. An actual picture of Tom McHale’s damaged brain with stage 3 CTE is depicted on the front of both shoes.

“Ross Tucker was a warrior on the football field, and we are honored that he is partnering with the Concussion Legacy Foundation to go to war again, only this time to End CTE,” said Chris Nowinski, PhD, CLF CEO and co-founder and a former All-Ivy League defensive tackle at Harvard University. “More cases of CTE have been diagnosed in NFL players than in any other population, and we hope more football players recognize the opportunity we have to save the lives of our football family members through supporting CTE research.”

Tucker will join dozens of other analysts and announcers in wearing custom tennis shoes and hundreds of NFL players in wearing custom cleats representing the charitable cause of their choice during all Week 13 games.

Current and former football players can join Tucker in the fight to End CTE by signing up for the CLF Research Registry. Those who are interested can learn more about pledging their brain or participating in clinical research studies at PledgeMyBrain.org.

About the Concussion Legacy Foundation:

The Concussion Legacy Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It was founded by Robert Cantu, MD, and Chris Nowinski, PhD to support athletes, Veterans, and all affected by concussions and CTE; achieve smarter sports and safer athletes through education and innovation; and to End CTE through prevention and research. For more information, please visit ConcussionFoundation.org.

About Ross Tucker: Ross Tucker played seven years in the NFL as an offensive lineman for the Washington Football Team, Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills, and New England Patriots. Today, he is a game analyst for the Philadelphia Eagles, CBS Sports, and Westwood One. He is the co-founder of the Ross Tucker Podcast Network including the flagship Ross Tucker Football Podcast and the founder and CEO of GoBigRecruiting.com.

Martin’s First Interview Since 2016 to Cap a Two-Day Virtual Conference on the Latest Breakthroughs in CTE Research

(Boston) – The 5th Annual Boston University CTE Conference, a two-day virtual event on Oct. 21-22, will feature a conversation with former NFL player Jonathan Martin, who retired in 2015 after several injuries, mental health struggles, and suicide attempts. Martin’s first public comments since 2016 are expected to cover his mental health battle since retiring, his perspective on whether he may have CTE, his newfound commitment to brain health, and his choice to be a voice of hope for former athletes concerned about CTE.

Martin, who is also announcing his pledge to donate his brain to the VA-Boston University-Concussion Legacy Foundation (VA-BU-CLF) Brain Bank, will be interviewed by BU CTE Center co-founder Chris Nowinski, PhD, alongside United Kingdom rugby star Stephen Thompson, who last year revealed he was diagnosed with dementia at age 42. Thompson’s doctors believe his dementia was caused by repeated head impacts from decades of playing rugby.

The course is designed for health care professionals and researchers, and up to 15.25 continuing education credits are available for physicians and psychologists. Patients, families, and other members of the public are welcome and encouraged to attend. Participants can register for the conference at CTEConference.com.

Presenters will include Boston University faculty Ann McKee, MD, Bob Stern, PhD, Robert Cantu, MD, Jesse Mez, MD, Doug Katz, MD, Lee Goldstein, MD, PhD, Thor Stein, MD, PhD, and Mike Alosco, PhD.

Guest presenters will include Kaj Blennow, MD, PhD, of the University of Gothenberg, Sweden, on fluid biomarkers, Jasmeet Hayes, PhD, of The Ohio State University on MRI imaging, and Robert Turner II, PhD, of George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Science, who will explore how racism and discrimination may influence diagnosis for black former football players.

The Concussion Legacy Foundation’s Lisa McHale will explore how CTE impacts families by interviewing three family members of former football players diagnosed with CTE, including the daughter of Atlanta Falcons star Tommy Nobis, the wife and daughter of 14-year NFL player Nesby Glasgow, and the parents of former Dartmouth football player Hunter Foraker, who died by suicide at age 25.

The conference is organized to train doctors and other health care professionals on the latest advance in our understanding of CTE, including its pathology, pathophysiology, genetics, biomarkers, imaging, clinical syndromes, clinical criteria, differential diagnosis, impact on Veterans, implications for the family and, what it is like to live with or worry about the disease.

About the Concussion Legacy Foundation:

The Concussion Legacy Foundation (CLF) is an international charity operating in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. CLF was founded in 2007 by Robert Cantu, MD, and Chris Nowinski, PhD, to support athletes, Veterans and all affected by concussions and CTE; achieve smarter sports and safer athletes through education and innovation; and to End CTE through prevention and research. For more information, please visit ConcussionFoundation.org.

Partnership will advance CTE research in athletes and military Veterans in the United Kingdom

(Oxford, UK) – Rugby World Cup winner and ex-Lion, Steve Thompson MBE announced today he will be the first professional athlete to pledge his brain to the Concussion Legacy Project for research on Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and other consequences of brain trauma. The Concussion Legacy Project is a new brain bank formed through a partnership between the Concussion Legacy Foundation UK (CLF UK) and the Jeff Astle Foundation (JAF).

“I’m pledging my brain so the children of the people I love don’t have to go through what I have gone through,” said Steve Thompson, MBE, who was diagnosed with dementia at age 42. “It’s up to my generation to pledge our brains so researchers can develop better treatments and ways to make the game safer.”

“Brain donation is the most valuable gift of all for future generations of footballers,” said Dawn Astle, daughter of Jeff Astle. “It may be many years before this jigsaw is complete, but by adding each piece, one at a time, it is the only way we shall understand the true picture and so be able to make a better future for others. The Jeff Astle Foundation encourages families of athletes and Veterans to donate the brain of their loved one to the Concussion Legacy Project.”

The Concussion Legacy Project will be led by Dr Gabriele DeLuca, Associate Professor in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford and Director of Clinical Neurosciences Undergraduate Education at Oxford Medical School.

“Brain donation will allow us to better understand the complexities of CTE so that we can develop tailored interventions and treatments to prevent its devastating consequences,” said Dr. DeLuca. In the next phase of the collaboration, Dr. DeLuca will lead clinical research efforts aimed at learning how best to treat common CTE-related symptoms, including problems with thinking and memory, mood, and sleep.

To support the Concussion Legacy Project, CLF CEO Dr. Chris Nowinski announced a new international chapter, the Concussion Legacy Foundation UK (CLF UK), under the leadership of executive director Dr. Adam White, Lecturer in Sport & Coaching Sciences at Oxford Brookes University. Dr. White has been leading a global research project to focus on understanding the experiences of families who have lost loved ones to sport-related brain injury.

“We’ve long known about the relationship between sport and CTE, but we urgently need to better understand how CTE affects athletes and Veterans, as well as their families, at every stage of their life,” said Dr. White. “We have reason for hope. CTE usually begins in a person’s teens or twenties, which means we have a lifetime to treat patients, educate people and support their families. We want to stop all new cases of CTE in the next five years and have a cure by 2040.”

“Losing my dad to dementia left so many unanswered questions. The only way we as a family could understand what happened to him after his football career was to donate his brain to research,” said Rachel Walden, Trustee of The Jeff Astle Foundation and daughter of Rod Taylor. “Knowing Dad died of CTE and Dementia with Lewy Bodies has driven me to work with Dawn Astle and The Jeff Astle Foundation and today I’m delighted we are able to join forces with Concussion Legacy Foundation UK and support the Concussion Legacy Project.”

CLF UK encourages all athletes and military Veterans to pledge to donate their brains to CTE research at PledgeMyBrain.org.

CLF UK has created a 24-hour brain donation hotline for families to call and coordinate brain donations. Family members of athletes and military servicemembers who wish to donate their loved one’s brain can contact the Concussion Legacy Project at 07534 029 223 and [email protected].

The Concussion Legacy Project is modeled after the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, a collaboration between the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Boston University, and CLF. This partnership has created the world’s leading CTE research program and has led to more than 1,000 brains donated 600 cases of CTE diagnosed, which comprises about 80% of the world’s confirmed cases.

The Concussion Legacy Project is part of the CLF Global Brain Bank, which links the leading CTE brain banks and researchers in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Canada, and the US. The members use common methods, share data, and work collaboratively on discoveries to accelerate global coordination of research.

About the Concussion Legacy Foundation:
The Concussion Legacy Foundation (CLF) is an international charity operating in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. CLF was founded in 2007 by Robert Cantu, MD, and Chris Nowinski, PhD, to support athletes, Veterans and all affected by concussions and CTE; achieve smarter sports and safer athletes through education and innovation; and to End CTE through prevention and research. For more information, please visit ConcussionFoundation.org.

About the Jeff Astle Foundation:
The Jeff Astle Foundation was launched by the Astle family in 2015 to raise awareness of brain injury in sport at all levels of the game, to work with sports authorities to deliver independent research into the links between brain injury in sport and degenerative brain disease, and to provide support for sports people living with the effects of dementia or chronic neurological impairment.

16 high school football players have been diagnosed with CTE, and all but one started playing tackle football before age 14

(BOSTON) – The Concussion Legacy Foundation (CLF) released a gripping PSA today featuring Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre that begs parents to wait to enroll their children in tackle football until age 14. The PSA aims to educate parents on research showing that their child’s odds of developing CTE double every additional three years they play tackle football.

“Having kids play tackle football before high school is just not worth the risk,” said Favre, who started in a record 297 consecutive NFL games over 19 seasons and is widely regarded as the toughest man to ever play the game. “CTE is a terrible disease, and we need to do everything we can to prevent it for the next generation of football players.”

While the overall prevalence of CTE in the high school football population is unknown and cannot be determined from a brain bank sample, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs – Boston University – Concussion Legacy Foundation (VA-BU-CLF) Brain Bank reports that 16 of 65 high school football players – who never played in college or professionally – have been diagnosed with CTE. 15 of the 16 players with CTE started playing tackle football before age 14.

The odds of developing CTE may increase by 30% per year of tackle football played, according to a 2019 Brain Bank study of 266 deceased football players published in Annals of Neurology. That means a high school football player who started at age five, instead of age 14, might have 10x the odds of developing CTE.

“A football player’s odds of developing CTE may be most determined by their parents, specifically what age the child is allowed to start playing tackle football,” said Chris Nowinski, PhD, Concussion Legacy Foundation co-founder and CEO, a former All-Ivy League defensive tackle at Harvard University. “It’s time to accept that CTE is not just a risk for professional and college football players, but also for high school players, and the best way to prevent CTE among football players is to delay the introduction of tackle football to reduce the number of years played.”

The PSA shows a precocious young child begging his parents to delay signing him up for tackle football until he turns 14 because of the risk he may develop CTE. The child ages into a teen who explains that if he plays youth tackle football, he could already have CTE by the time he is in high school. The teen finally ages into an adult, played by Favre, who explains if he plays too many years of tackle football, he would be more likely to experience common symptoms associated with CTE like depression, problems with thinking, and even violent behavior towards his children – and none of those symptoms would be worth it when all he really wants as an adult is to be a good parent.

The mention of violence was inspired by the many children of football players diagnosed with CTE who have courageously revealed that their fathers were increasingly violent towards them and their siblings as their disease progressed.

The PSA implores parents to choose flag football instead of tackle for their children to reduce their exposure to repetitive head impacts. According to the CDC, in flag football a typical youth player will receive about 8 head impacts a year, while in tackle they will receive 378.

You can watch the PSA here. Video files for broadcast are available upon request.

Find more information at Favre4Flag.org.