The National Football League (NFL) is planning to form a partnership with GE Healthcare to develop imaging technology that would detect concussions, according to an article published on February 2 in the New York Times.
The NFL and GE will invest $50 million in a four-year project expected to begin in March. An initial $30 million will focus on developing diagnostic imaging modalities to detect head trauma. Another $20 million will be spent to improve helmets and other protective devices.
GE would run an "innovation challenge," asking individuals to submit ideas on how safety equipment could be improved. The most promising ideas would be selected, financed, and brought to market, the Times reported.
The partnership evolved from a conversation that took place in October 2012 between NFL Commissioner Rodger Goodell and GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt, according to the story. As an undergraduate student, Immelt had played on Dartmouth College's football team.
Kevin Guskiewicz, PhD, chairman of the department of exercise and sports science and director of the Matthew Gfeller Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will work with the NFL and GE to identify focus areas.
