As part of its commitment to funding medical research, the National Football League awarded Boston Children’s Hospital more than $14.6 million for concussion research, according to a Nov. 15 NFL News story. To date, the NFL has donated more than $35 million to fund brain health and injury research, per the same article.

The announcement, described in further detail on the NFL Scientific Advisory Board’s fact sheet, reported that $14,698,132 has been given to a “Prospective, LONGitudinal, and Translational Study for Former National Football League Players” led by William P. Meehan II, who works at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. 

The Boston-based NFL study will be a continuation of Boston Children’s previous research on sport-related concussions, according to a Nov. 16 Metro article. Per this article, Meehan said, “this new study is part of a continued effort to improve player safety and quality of life for athletes of all ages.”

The SAB, composed of leading independent doctors, experts, scientists and researchers, approved and distributed the grants, according to the fact sheet. The SAB based their decisions on the National Institute of Health’s scoring guidance, a well-known system for scoring research proposals.

A Nov. 15 USA Today article quoted Col. Sidney Hinds, a SAB member and the brain health research program coordinator at the Department of Defense, who said, “through this SAB process, the future steps will offer another opportunity to collaborate and share information.” 

Hinds continued, “The results [researchers] will get not only impact professional sports but the broader general public to understand and take care of and treat concussions in the future.” 

A Nov. 15 Boston Magazine article quoted Meehan’s press release, in which he explained that “there is a pressing need for data-driven approaches to better understand the risk, incidence, characteristics, progression and treatment of neurologic health problems faced by former NFL players.”