Dr. Ann McKee shares plans for upcoming studies that will silence critics once and for all.
I have learned a thicker skin. I have to say in the beginning I was very
surprised by the criticism because I’d been involved in neurologic disease all my life
and no one had ever gotten this upset over progressive supranuclear palsy. We just obviously hit a nerve because we hit
this very popular American sport. So that was a whole nother [sic] thing. What my critics have taught me is to do more
science, do it faster, do it better, publish in better journals. I want everyone to jump on the solution here. I find it very difficult to watch people suffer
and not really be able to give them any comfort or optimism. And I know that if we really applied ourselves
as a country or as a planet, we could really make a difference in this disease so that’s
what’s frustrating to me. It’s like why are we letting people suffer
while we deny it because it’s a popular sport that we enjoy for our own entertainment,
which I think has been largely the reason that people have not been so skeptical. But my response is, “Yes”. We do better science. We have higher numbers. We publish in better and better and more and
more journals. We answer the questions that they keep throwing
at us. We get the volley, so our next paper is gonna
hit the volley. You’re gonna see in the future some epidemiological
studies that really showed a connection between football and a development of CTE. So these critics can be silenced for once
and for all. This video was produced by BrainLine thanks to generous support from the Infinite Hero Foundation.
Posted on BrainLine January 11, 2019.
About the author: Ann McKee, MD
Ann McKee, MD is the chief neuropathologist for the Framingham Heart Study and the Boston University-based Centenarian Study. She is also the chief neuropathologist for the Boston-based Veterans Administration Medical Centers and for the Sports Legacy Institute.