Retired NFL players being treated by WUSTL neurologists

Washington University neurologists at Barnes-Jewish Hospital will be part of a new neurological care program for retired professional football players, the National Football League and NFL Alumni Association announced March 24.

The program, one of a series of NFL initiatives addressing the quality of life of retired players, makes available neurological specialists at five leading medical centers nationwide, including Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, to evaluate and treat possible neurological conditions. Each center will make available to retired NFL players a team of specialists, led by a neurologist who will serve as a program director.

David Brody

David Brody, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurology, will direct the St. Louis branch.

“We’re honored that the NFL selected us to participate and hope it will be an opportunity for us to contribute to a greater understanding of the aftereffects of repetitive concussive brain injuries and how best to treat them,” Brody says. “We also hope that this initiative will raise public awareness of traumatic brain injury and the need for treatment and rehabilitation.”

Staff for the St. Louis care program will include Brody, five other medical faculty members and two administrators.

The other participating centers are: Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta; Mount Sinai in New York City; Doctors of USC in Los Angeles; and the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine.

The neurological program is available to retired players vested under the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan. Players who cannot afford treatment may apply to the NFL Player Care Foundation for a grant to cover some or all of the costs of treatment.