Concussion experts testify in Senate hearing on blast mTBI

By Malayka Gormally. This article was initially published in the 3/7/24 edition of our Concussion Update newsletter; please consider subscribing.

On February 28, the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel held a hearing about traumatic brain injury from repeated blast exposure for U.S. service members. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Chairwoman of the subpanel, led the two-hour hearing (view the C-span recording here) in which senators questioned experts––including renowned brain injury expert Ross Zafonte, MD, President of Spaulding Rehabilitation Network; Dr. Carlos Williams, director of the National Intrepid Center of Excellence at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Department of Defense officials; and Frank Larkin, COO of Feherty’s Troops First Foundation, whose son’s death was attributable to blast exposure. An article in Stripes sums up the tone of the hearing: “The Pentagon has been too passive in addressing and preventing damage caused by shock waves that emanate from exploding weapons, known as overpressure.” Senator Warren said, “I want to be a partner but a partner that urges you to move faster and deliver more for our service members as quickly as possible…We need to do better for our troops, and we need to do it right now.”