Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: What we have learned from the athletes

Dr. McKee is associate professor of neurology and pathology at Boston University School of Medicine and neuropathology core director for the Alzheimer’s Disease Center, and co-director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy Center.

Her talk is titled "Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: What we have learned from the athletes," and she will discuss her latest research uncovering the cumulative effects of concussions in athletes of all ages, with particular attention paid to professional football players.

Dr. McKee is a nationally recognized expert in the neuropathology of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and recently won the Moore Award Honorable Mention for her paper entitled “Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy of Football Players” at the annual meeting of the American Association of Neuropathologists.

Dr. McKee testified in front of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on NFL Player Head Injuries in October of 2009.  Watch her appearance on CBS's "60 Minutes".

CTE is a progressive degenerative disease found in individuals who have been subjected to multiple concussions and other forms of head injury.  It is most commonly found in professional athletes participating in football, ice hockey, professional wrestling and other contact sports, who have experienced head trauma, resulting in degeneration of brain tissue and the accumulation of tau protein. Individuals with CTE may show symptoms of dementia such as memory loss, aggression, confusion and depression, which may appear within months of the trauma or many decades later.

CTE has been widely covered in the media over the past year; earlier this month, former Chicago Bears football star Dave Duerson, who suffered from cognitive impairment and depression, took his own life and requested that his brain be donated for research.

Dr. McKee is also director of the VISN-1 Neuropathology Laboratory for the New England Veterans Administration Medical Centers, and directs the Brain Banks for the Framingham Heart Study and the Centenarian Study.  She also serves on the Medical Advisory Board of Sports Legacy Institute.  Dr. McKee has published over 150 journal articles, chapters, and abstracts, and is a member of the American Association of Neuropathologists.