Concussion Research Program

Overview

The Concussion Research Program helps coordinate an international network of multidisciplinary researchers who combine resources and expertise to conduct concussion research rapidly, efficiently, and effectively. Researchers from Boston-based Spaulding Rehabilitation, Massachusetts General Hospital, Mass General Brigham for Children™, and Harvard Medical School collaborate with those across the United States, Canada, Norway, Finland, and Australia to greatly accelerate the rate at which studies can be completed, information disseminated to the medical and scientific community, and the findings translated into better clinical care.

Research Projects

Our priority research areas are listed below.

1. Develop new diagnostic criteria for mild traumatic brain injury and sport-related concussion for research and clinical practice.
2. Analyze, aggregate, and interpret the world’s scientific literature on the evaluation and management of sport-related concussion as a member and panelist for the Concussion in Sport Group.
3. Evaluate the reliability, validity, accuracy, and clinical usefulness of clinical tests used for the evaluation of concussion.
4. Examine the usefulness of blood biomarkers for the emergency management of mild traumatic brain injury.
5. Advocate for a biopsychosocial conceptualization of both good and poor outcomes from concussion and mild traumatic brain injury.
6. Execute systematic reviews to illuminate the state of the science on clinical outcomes from sport-related concussion, to identify knowledge gaps, and to design future studies.
7. Conduct empirical studies of outcomes from concussion in high school, collegiate, and professional athletes, to better understand factors that contribute to faster and slower recovery from this injury. This work might improve clinical prediction for determining faster and slower recovery from concussion.
8. Encourage best practice active rehabilitation for concussion. Conceptualize and conduct studies designed to promote better medical management, treatment, and precision rehabilitation for mild traumatic brain injuries sustained by athletes, civilians, and military service members.
9. Develop cognition endpoints for traumatic brain injury clinical trials. Improve the methodology for identifying cognitive weaknesses and impairment across the lifespan.
10. Promote superior, accessible, and equitable clinical care through research and advocacy. Lead efforts to conceptualize and consider social determinants of health in the assessment, medical management, treatment, and rehabilitation of sport-related concussion.
11. Illuminate intimate partner violence-related brain injury and advocate for recognition, prevention, and high-quality healthcare.
12. Pursue a program of timely and innovative research to advance knowledge of the later-life brain health of former professional football and rugby players, and ultra-high-combat-exposure military special operators, using neuropsychological testing, multimodal experimental neuroimaging, and postmortem immunohistochemistry of donated brain tissue.

The Sports Concussion Clinic: Integrating Research and Clinical Care

We provide clinical treatment at the Sports Concussion Clinic at Mass General Brigham for Children by caring for children, adolescents, and college-aged adults who have sustained concussions while playing sports or other recreational activities.

Publications

Our priority research areas, with representative publications, are listed below.

1. Develop new diagnostic criteria for mild traumatic brain injury and sport-related concussion for research and clinical practice (display examples on PubMed). Identify mild traumatic brain injury in active-duty service members and veterans (display examples on PubMed).
2. Analyze, aggregate, and interpret the world’s scientific literature on the evaluation and management of sport-related concussion as a member and panelist for the Concussion in Sport Group (display examples on PubMed).
3. Evaluate the reliability, validity, accuracy, and clinical usefulness of clinical tests used for the evaluation of concussion (display examples on PubMed).
4. Examine the usefulness of blood biomarkers for the emergency management of mild traumatic brain injury (display examples on PubMed). Consider differential outcomes from complicated versus uncomplicated mild traumatic brain injury (display examples on PubMed).
5. Advocate for a biopsychosocial conceptualization of both good and poor outcomes from concussion and mild traumatic brain injury (display examples on PubMed).
6. Execute systematic reviews to illuminate the state of the science on clinical outcomes from sport-related concussion, to identify knowledge gaps, and to design future studies (display examples on PubMed).
7. Conduct empirical studies of outcomes from concussion in high school, collegiate, and professional athletes, to better understand factors that contribute to faster and slower recovery from this injury (display examples on PubMed). This work might improve clinical prediction for determining faster and slower recovery from concussion.
8. Encourage best practice active rehabilitation for concussion. Conceptualize and conduct studies designed to promote better medical management, treatment, and precision rehabilitation for mild traumatic brain injuries sustained by athletes, civilians, and military service members (display examples on PubMed).
9. Develop cognition endpoints for traumatic brain injury clinical trials (display examples on PubMed). Improve the methodology for identifying cognitive weaknesses and impairment across the lifespan (display examples on PubMed).
10. Promote superior, accessible, and equitable clinical care through research and advocacy. Lead efforts to conceptualize and consider social determinants of health in the assessment, medical management, treatment, and rehabilitation of sport-related concussion (display examples on PubMed).
11. Illuminate intimate partner violence-related brain injury and advocate for recognition, prevention, and high-quality healthcare  (display examples on PubMed).
12. Pursue a program of timely and innovative research to advance knowledge of the later-life brain health of former professional football and rugby players, and ultra-high-combat-exposure military special operators, using neuropsychological testing, multimodal experimental neuroimaging, and postmortem immunohistochemistry of donated brain tissue (display examples on PubMed).

See a more complete list of our publications on PubMed (display examples on PubMed).