Douglas Terry

Douglas Terry, PhD, and colleagues surveyed former professional football players about whether they believe they have Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. (photo by Donn Jones)

Vanderbilt’s Douglas Terry named Senior Director of Research for the National Football League

The role will concentrate on several initiatives meant to enhance the health and safety of NFL players and is an extension of Terry’s expertise and work on sport-related concussion and cumulative head impacts.

Douglas Terry, PhD, and colleagues surveyed former professional football players about whether they believe they have Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. (photo by Donn Jones)

New study reveals common belief of CTE, link to mental health among former professional NFL players

“Understanding the proportion of former players who think they have CTE — and identifying the common symptoms in those who believe they have CTE — is an important step for helping these individuals receive medical and mental health treatment,” said Douglas Terry, PhD, assistant professor and clinical neuropsychologist in the Department of Neurological Surgery and co-director of the Vanderbilt Sports Concussion Center.

For former NFL players, football before age 12 not linked to worse health later in life: study

Data from 4,189 former NFL athletes who spanned the ages of 24-89 show no evidence playing organized football younger than age 12 led to more cognitive, mood, sleep, cardiovascular or other health issues later in life. These results, which are published in Sports Medicine, contrast with previous small studies from a decade ago.