Football and Brains: The Painful Collision of Sports and Medicine on the Gridiron

This talk emerges from The New York Times's coverage of one of the most profound sports stories in years --  how former football players appear to be suffering dementia and other cognitive impairments at rates that far exceed those of the general population. We will consider several examples of former players coping with the effects of repeated brain traumas, medical experts' analyses of this issue, and the National Football League's response. We will also raise questions of journalistic and medical ethics, including how journalists, medical researchers, and sports medicine doctors should manage these sorts of high-stakes stories. The speaker, editor Jason Stallman, approaches this topic as a journalist who has investigated the issue for three years at The New York Times. He was the editor of a body of work on this subject that was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2007.

All are welcome. Light refreshments will be served.

Presented by Northwestern University's Medical Humanities & Bioethics Program, the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center, the Department of Neurological Surgery, the Department of Intercollegiate Sports Medicine, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.