NCAA Concussion Research & Initiatives
Research, education and collaborative initiatives advancing the understanding, prevention and management of sport-related concussion in college athletics.
The CARE Consortium
The NCAA-U.S. Department of Defense Concussion Assessment, Research and Education Consortium is the largest concussion and repetitive head impact study in history. The project, funded by the NCAA and DOD, launched in 2014 and now includes participants on 30 campuses across the country. The CARE Consortium, part of the broader NCAA-DOD Grand Alliance, is composed of two major components: a clinical study core, which aims to define how symptoms and physical signs manifest and evolve over time in different people (known in the scientific community as the “natural history” of concussion), and the advanced research core, which seeks to identify the neurobiology of concussion and repetitive head impact exposure (how the brain itself is affected).
The initial phase of CARE focused on the six-month natural history and neurobiology of acute concussion and head-impact exposure (HIE). The second phase, CARE 2.0, prospectively investigated the intermediate effects — such as changes in brain health outcomes over a college career — and early persistent health effects associated with HIE and concussion soon after graduation. The third phase will investigate the nature and causes of long-term effects of HIE and concussion/mild traumatic brain injury in NCAA student-athletes and military service members.
Each of those goals is rooted in the desire to enhance the health, safety and performance of NCAA student-athletes and service members and will serve as a valuable resource for youth sports participants and society at large.
CARE Consortium at a Glance
The CARE Consortium is the largest concussion and repetitive head impact study in history.
A collaborative effort between the NCAA and U.S. Department of Defense.
Research includes student-athletes and service members from institutions across the country.
The consortium launched in 2014 as part of the NCAA-DoD Grand Alliance.
Total Research Funding
Participants
Cases Studied
Research Leadership
The CARE Consortium, endeavors to provide necessary infrastructure and scientific expertise to study concussion. The consortium is united in its goal to gain a better understanding of the neurobiopsychosocial nature of concussive injury and recovery in order to ultimately enhance the safety and health of our student-athletes, service members, youth sports participants and the broader public.
The CARE Consortium research is co-chaired by principal investigators at three research institutions.
Indiana University School of Medicine
Indiana University School of Medicine serves as the Administrative and Operations Core and is the central coordination center for the CARE Consortium. Led by Dr. Thomas W. McAllister, chair of the IU School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, Indiana provides fiduciary oversight as well as data and analysis management, bioinformatics, bio specimen, and clinical trial support resources for the consortium.
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan leads the Longitudinal Clinical Study Core, a prospective, multi-institution clinical research protocol whose aim is to study the natural history of concussion among NCAA student-athletes. This investigation already is the largest ever of its type. Steven Broglio, Ph.D., ATC, associate professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the NeuroSport Research Laboratory, leads this effort.
Medical College of Wisconsin
The Medical College of Wisconsin directs the Advanced Research Core. Led by Michael McCrea, Ph.D., professor of neurosurgery and director of brain injury research at the Medical College of Wisconsin, this effort includes cutting-edge studies that incorporate head impact sensor technologies, advanced neuroimaging, biological markers and detailed clinical studies to examine the acute effects and early pattern of neurophysiological recovery from sport-related concussion. Ultimately, the work is designed to more fully inform a comprehensive understanding of sport-related concussion and traumatic brain injury.
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences coordinates engagement with the four military academies in the consortium. Retired Army Col. Paul F. Pasquina, M.D., professor and chair of the department of rehabilitation medicine and director of the Center for Rehabilitation Sciences Research, leads this aspect of the study.
Study Particpants
Testing is underway at 30 campuses, including six schools where athletes undergo advanced imaging tests and blood draws.
Study Milestones
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May 2014: $30 million NCAA-Department of Defense Grand Alliance announced.
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August 2014: Data collection begins.
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September 2015: DOD contributes $11 million in supplementary funding to support the aims of CARE by studying service academy cadets in addition to NCAA student-athletes.
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March 2016: CARE Consortium research data is presented at the World Congress on Brain Injury at The Hague, Netherlands.
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March 2017: First CARE research paper published.
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August 2017: NCAA contributes nearly $1 million for additional member schools to contribute data to the CARE study through CARE Affiliated Programs.
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February 2018: NCAA and DOD solidify plans for transition from CARE’s first phase (acute effects of concussion and repetitive head impact exposure) to its next (intermediate and cumulative effects of concussion and repetitive head impact exposure).
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September 2018: NCAA and DOD contribute an additional $22.5 million in funding for CARE’s second phase, CARE 2.0.
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October 2021: NCAA-DoD CARE Consortium receives a $42.65 million award to launch CARE-SALTOS Integrated, the third phase of study.
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March 2022: The CARE Consortium announced the launch of the first tier of the CARE-SALTOS Integrated Study: Tier 1 Biennial Assessments.
The NCAA-DoD Grand Alliance
The CARE Consortium is part of the broader NCAA-DoD Grand Alliance, a landmark initiative launched in 2014 to advance concussion research and improve the culture of concussion reporting and management.
The Grand Alliance includes two primary initiatives:
CARE Consortium
Provides critical research on the natural history and neurophysiology of sport-related concussion.
Mind Matters Challenge
Supports education, awareness and innovative approaches designed to improve concussion reporting behaviors and concussion safety culture
CARE Through the Years
Focused on the six-month natural history and neurobiology of acute concussion and head-impact exposure.
Expanded research to investigate intermediate and early persistent effects of concussion and repetitive head impacts throughout a student-athlete’s collegiate experience and beyond graduation.
Examines the long-term effects of concussion and mild traumatic brain injury in NCAA student-athletes and military service members.
NCAA Grand Alliance Concussion Conference
The NCAA partners with the U.S. Department of War to host the Annual Grand Alliance Concussion Conference where concussion experts and researchers come together to share preliminary and recently publicized data from the NCAA-U.S. Department of War Grand Alliance, the largest longitudinal clinical and advanced research study to investigate concussion and head impact exposure.
Mind Matters Challenge
The Mind Matters Challenge was established as part of the NCAA-DoD Grand Alliance to improve concussion education, reporting behaviors and concussion safety culture among
A part of the NCAA and U.S. Department of Defense Grand Alliance, the Mind Matters Challenge is a $7 million education and research grand challenge aimed at changing important concussion safety behaviors.
The challenge focuses on two important areas related to concussion: changing attitudes about concussions in young adults (a long-term impact research challenge); and educational programs targeting young adults (an immediate impact education challenge).
Student-athletes often fail to report head injuries to medical personnel or their coaches, and as a result, they return to play before sufficiently recovering from a concussion. The reasons they fail to report are many: fear of letting down the team, peer pressure, and unspoken dynamics set by coaches or other stakeholders. There may be even more important factors that are not yet understood or easily identified.
The research challenge seeks to fund applied scientific research to improve understanding of how to prompt cultural change in the target communities. In addition to benefiting student-athletes on the field of play, the outcomes also will benefit military and civilian populations. Eight research grants of up to $400,000 each were awarded.
The goal of the educational challenge is to identify entities with the expertise and capability to create compelling and impactful educational materials for student-athletes and other at-risk populations in the area of concussion education, based on the best information available today. Cash prizes up to $100,000 were awarded to six finalists in the educational programs challenge, who will also vie for the opportunity to collaborate with the NCAA to produce a detailed educational program in conjunction with other experts.
Supports projects focused on increasing concussion awareness and improving understanding of concussion signs, symptoms and management.
Encourages innovative approaches designed to improve concussion reporting behaviors and strengthen concussion safety culture across sports and military populations.
Research includes student-athletes and service members from institutions across the country.
The consortium launched in 2014 as part of the NCAA-DoD Grand Alliance.
Mind Matters Research Challenge Findings
In January 2016, nine schools selected from a field of 22 finalists, each received $400,000 research grants to fund projects designed to improve the understanding of how to spur changes in the culture surrounding concussion in target communities, including student-athletes and military populations.
The schools have used those funds to produce dozens of research papers that, taken together, mark an important step toward that goal. A brief review of the research and their findings to date, and links to the abstracts or full study articles, follow. The page will be updated regularly with links to new study publications.
Arrington Settlement Information
The Arrington Settlement Agreement established requirements related to concussion reporting and education within the NCAA. Learn more about the settlement, its background and related resources.