Six winners of the Head Health Challenge I were announced on Thursday. The winners will each receive a $500,000 award, furthering their work to speed diagnosis and improve treatment for mild traumatic brain injury thanks to the joint effort of the NFL and GE.
Head Health Challenge is part of the Head Health Initiative and was launched in March 2013. The four-year, $60 million collaboration between GE and the NFL is designed to speed diagnosis and improve treatments as well as research and development for mild traumatic brain injuries. The collaborators of the challenges are committing up to $20 million in order to complete their goal.
Challenge I, methods for diagnosis and prognosis of mild traumatic brain injuries, is focused on discovering imaging and algorithms to better analyze brain changes. The goal was to improve the safety of athletes, military and society in general. “These studies hold the promise of advancing brain science in important ways. The health and safety of our players is our top priority, and this challenge extends that commitment to the general population as well,” said Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner.
There were over 400 entries from 27 different countries. After being reviewed and nominated by a panel of leading healthcare experts, a group of 16 entries were selected on January 23, 2014 as the first round winners. These winners were awarded $300,000. The final six winners were then chosen from the group of 16. The winners include Banyan Biomarkers, Inc., BrainScope Company, Inc., Medical College of Wisconsin, Quanterix, University of California Santa Barbara, and University of Montana.
The innovations and areas of research presented by the winners consist of a point-of-care blood test to rapidly detect the presence of mild and moderate brain trauma, potential to identify those with increased susceptibility to concussion, blood-based biomarkers that indicate how the brain reacts following a traumatic brain injury and discovery of the direct effects of sports-related concussions on the brain’s function, as well as the long-term effects.