Led by Dr Willie Stewart, the Glasgow Brain Injury Research Group has announced a partnership with PINK Concussions that promises to bring much-needed attention to female brain injury research.
Using the PINK Concussions’ #PINKBrainPledge, women in the UK will be encouraged to pledge to donate their brains to the Glasgow Traumatic Brain Injury Archive to study the effects of brain injury, including its link to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, also known as CTE.
Dr Stewart is an internationally renowned researcher, known for his work studying outcomes from brain injuries.
He recently published a landmark study in the New England Journal of Medicine detailing the first major findings of the FIELD study, showing that former professional footballers were 3.5 times more likely to die with neurodegenerative disease than their matched population counterparts.
Based in America, PINK Concussions focuses on female brain injury, such as from sports concussion, domestic violence, accidents or military service. In 2020, PINK Concussions plans to make these invisible injuries in women visible with a goal of recruiting 2,020 women across the world to pledge their brains to research.
Dr Willie Stewart, honorary clinical associate professor at the University of Glasgow, said: “I am delighted that The Glasgow Brain Injury Research Group has partnered with PINK Concussions. Despite the many advances in understanding outcomes from brain injury we and others have reported, we must recognise that sex differences have not been adequately explored.
“I hope that through this partnership more females will consider registering to donate their brain for research to allow us to take forward these important studies.”
Katherine Snedaker, founder and executive director of PINK Concussions, Masters in Social Work, said: “In the past, the focus of brain injury research has primarily been on male brains, without any active recruitment for women to pledge their brains after death.”
“We are so excited to partner with Dr Stewart and his colleagues in Glasgow to launch the first active recruitment of women in the UK to be a part of brain injury and CTE research.”
Information on the work of the Glasgow Brain Injury Research Group, including how to register for brain donation is available here.
Women interested in participating in research brain donation are encouraged to take the PINK Concussions’ pledge #PINKBrainPledge.