VCU news

By Anne Dreyfuss and Leha Byrd

At the world premiere of “Concussion” on Tuesday, Hollywood star Will Smith spoke about the prevalence of concussions in American football. The self-described “football dad” plays Nigerian-born forensic pathologist Bennet Omalu, who diagnosed Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease, in U.S. football players.

“I felt as a parent I was uninformed [of the concussion risks in American football],” Smith told a sold-out audience after the debut. “I wanted to create this for people to make informed decisions.”

The film that opens in U.S. cinemas on Dec. 25 brings the topic of the degenerative brain disease to national attention. Experts at Virginia Commonwealth University are available to speak with media on a variety of topics related to the subject, such as sports injuries, pediatrics, military combat and more.

David Cifu, M.D., is the chair of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the VCU School of Medicine and principal investigator on a $62.2 million federally funded concussion-focused grant involving multiple universities, military installations and veterans’ hospitals that aims to better understand how to prevent, diagnose and treat brain injuries. The consortium is focused on mild brain injuries such as concussions that have been sustained in military combat, but it also looks at concussions sustained in the civilian and sports sectors. He can speak about combat concussions in service members and veterans as well as innovative diagnostic tools and interventions for treating concussions such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatment. 

Raymond Colello, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the VCU School of Medicine. He is experimenting with putting magnets in football helmets to dull the impact of head-on collisions and prevent concussions. He can speak about progress that the research team has made in developing and testing the prototype helmets.

Katherine Dec, M.D., is a professor in the Departments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Orthopaedic Surgery at the VCU School of Medicine. Her specialties include sports-related concussions and women’s sports medicine. She can speak about sports-related injuries, the importance of proper athletic equipment and conditioning to avoid injury.

Bill Shaw, M.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the VCU School of Medicine who specializes in pediatric sports medicine and concussion treatment. He can speak about pediatric concussions, pediatric sports injury prevention and the treatment of pediatric athletes.