Do Better Science to Silence Critics

Ann McKee, MD
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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.