NFL Medical Experts Take Part in Emerson Health’s Concussion Diagnosis and Management Conference

The Robert C. Cantu Concussion Summit was held on December 8, 2023, at the Cantu Concussion Center at Emerson Hospital in Concord, MA. The theme of the conference was "Prevention of Concussion and Long-Term Effects of Repetitive Traumatic Brain Injury (RTBI)." Dr. Robert Cantu (Emerson Hospital) and Dr. Allen Sills (Vanderbilt University, Chief Medical Officer, NFL) served as conference directors; Terrie Ennis, PT, MSPT (Emerson Hospital) and Dr. Gary Solomon (NFL) served as conference coordinators.

The goal of the meeting was for clinicians and researchers with experience and expertise in athletic brain injury and long-term cognitive disorders to gather and share their findings, with a goal of identifying gaps in current research that need to be addressed. The meeting was supported by an unrestricted educational grant from the NFL.

The conference consisted of three major sessions. Each session consisted of five to six 15- to 20-minute didactic presentations followed by a panel discussion among all participants.

Session 1 was "Pathophysiology of Athletic Concussion (Traumatic Brain Injury) and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy." The invited speakers included Drs. Anne McKee (Boston University), Jeffrey Bazarian (University of Rochester Medical School), Thor Stein (Boston University), Dirk Keene (University of Washington), and Kevin Bieniek (UT Health-San Antonio). The panel discussion for this session included the speakers along with Dr. Robert Cantu (Emerson Hospital) and Dr. Carmela Tartaglia (University of Toronto).

The focus of Session 2 was "Concussion/RTBI Prevention." The invited speakers were Drs. Christina Mack (IQVIA), Jeff Crandall (Biocore), Kristy Arbogast (University of Pennsylvania), William Meehan (Harvard