About Our Organization

• Our Mission and Vision, The Problem

• Our Programs and Board

• Expert Advisory Board

• Volunteer Team

• Longer-term internships and practicums

• Research Affiliations

• Our Story

Organization Description

Concussion Alliance is a science-based concussion education and advocacy nonprofit founded in 2018. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, EIN #93-4965531.

We are pleased to have earned a Candid (GuideStar) Gold Seal of Transparency. Please read our Guidestar Profile.

The Problem

Each year, 55.9 million concussions occur worldwide. Finding the right provider and getting the proper treatment for a concussion is too difficult, especially when symptoms persist. People often follow outdated and counterproductive information about concussion self-care. In addition, 15-30% of patients will require multidisciplinary care for their persistent symptoms. Before we created ConcussionAlliance.org, patients and their families had no readily available resource that provided education about concussions, self-care, treatment options, and how to find a qualified specialist.

Concussion Alliance offers an in-depth undergraduate concussion internship, a comprehensive, evidence-based compendium of educational resources to educate patients and their families, healthcare providers, and advocates about concussion science and treatment options––as well as population-specific information for veterans, athletes, college students, women and girls, victims of intimate partner violence and other violent crimes, and other at-risk cohorts.

Hannah Nash

Hannah Nash is a senior at the University of Washington studying Human Centered Design and Engineering. She served as a Program Manager Intern for the Summer 2023 Concussion Education & Advocacy Internship Program. For the Winter & Spring 2024 quarters, Hannah is doing a two-quarter, for-credit internship with Concussion Alliance; she is currently creating a Program Manager Handbook for the Summer 2024 Internship Program.

We work with multiple research groups by

• promoting research calls for study participants

• referring patients directly to clinical trials

• writing Letters of Support for research groups applying for grants

• participating in research design committees as patient advocates

We promote research calls for study participants at the top of our Concussion Update Newsletter in the Opportunities section. We have over 3,300 subscribers to our newsletter.

Research teams and studies we work with

The NEW–HOPE–TBI study, a multicenter collaboration between the University of Washington BRaIN Lab (Seattle, WA), the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (New York, NY), the University of California San Francisco (San Francisco, CA), and Massachusets General Hospital (Boston, MA).

Concussion Alliance is part of the study’s Community-Based Participatory Research team. We provided a Letter of Support that was part of the successful application for an NIH grant. We are participating by giving input on study design and recruiting study participants.

The Late Effects of Traumatic Brain Injury (LETBI) project at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

We are assisting with the LETBI study, a long-term research project by a renowned team at the Brain Injury Research Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. We are promoting their call for study participants via the Opportunities section of our Concussion Update Newsletter.

Military Traumatic Brain Injury Initiative (MTBI²), formerly Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine (CNRM)

The Military Traumatic Brain Injury Initiative (MTBI²) is part of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) in Bethesda, MD. In the past, we’ve helped recruit study participants for “A Randomized, Controlled, Blinded Study of Internet-guided Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia in Military Service Members with History of Traumatic Brain Injury.” We have also recruited study participants for their “Remote Research Trial of a New Digital Therapeutic Mobile App for post-concussion depression.

"Working in collaboration with Concussion Alliance has been exceptional. Malayka and Conor Gormally are passionate about mTBI research and it shows. Our study team utilized the Concussion Alliance newsletters to reach more potential study participants for various Digital Therapeutics (DTx) clinical trials. Our team values the relationship with Concussion Alliance and is proud to support a nonprofit organization that works tirelessly to facilitate awareness of concussions, persistent post-concussion symptoms, and enhance treatment feasbilty options for both civilians and military service members alike."

~ David L. Brody, MD PhD, Professor of Neurology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), Chief Scientific Officer / Chief Innovation Officer (CSO/CIO), Military Traumatic Brain Injury Initiative (MTBI2)

Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School

We promoted a call for study participants for research by Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, focusing on a program to help optimize concussion recovery over four 45-minute virtual sessions.

University of Washington Biorepository and Integrated Neuropathology (BRaIN) Laboratory

We have written Letters of Support for BRaIN lab applications for NIH grants and state-based TBI funding. Drs. Dirk Keene and Nolan are regular Expert Guest Speakers for our Concussion Education and Advocacy Internship Program.

Florida Atlantic University’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing sponsored “Mind Over Matter” (M.O.M.) project, an initiative of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute

We wrote a Letter of Support for the research team’s application for PCORI funding, which was successful. We then worked as a collaborative partner helping with study design for the team’s PCORI-funded project, “Mind Over Matter: A Veteran-driven Roadmap to Research on Traumatic Brain Injury (M.O.M.).” The goal of the (M.O.M.) project is to “bolster patient-centered outcomes research and comparative effectiveness research in order to identify treatment options for TBI that are effective, acceptable, and meaningful to the veteran population.” Read more here, and see the press release here.

CARF International

Concussion Alliance participated in the field review of the concussion program standards for the CARF Concussion Rehabilitation Program. From the CARF press release: “More than 270 stakeholders provided feedback to create the first international best-practice framework. CARF International has developed the first interdisciplinary, field-driven standards of its kind for Concussion Rehabilitation Programs, which will be released in January 2024. “

VA Boston Healthcare System

We recruited a significant percentage of the study participants for a clinical trial, “Light-emitting Diode (LED) Research Project to improve memory and thinking in people who have suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI).” Read our blog post to learn more.

University of Utah, TBI and Concussion Center and the Department of Neurology

We are assisting with the recruitment of study participants for their ongoing clinical trials. See our blog post with an interview of one of the study participants. “Photobiomodulation Therapy to Improve Brain Health and Resiliency, A Pilot Study.”

University of Maine: Brain Injury, Education, and Rehabilitation Lab

We have promoted multiple calls for study participants for research by the Brain Injury, Education, and Rehabilitation Lab at the University of Maine.

VA Portland Health Care System and Department of Neurology, Oregon Health & Science University

We helped recruit for the clinical trial, “Improving sleep, sleep-related outcomes, and biomarkers in Veterans.” See our blog post recruiting study participants.

NIH-funded Epilepsy Research Program with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command and the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP)

We promoted a call for study participants for the NIH-funded Epilepsy Research Program to better understand the incidence of post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE) following a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and to improve patient care and outcomes.