Dr. Ann McKee visited campus on Nov. 6, 2014, to speak about her research into chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which has made headlines in recent years following the deaths of several high-profile retired football players.
By Kaitlin Dunn ’16
When Dr. Ann McKee was growing up, her biggest heroes weren’t presidents or world leaders, but members of the Green Bay Packers professional football team.
The Packers today represent a group of people she most wants to help – those who put themselves at risk for a potentially fatal brain condition brought about by repeated blows to the head.
McKee, now a doctor of neuroscience/neurology and professor at Boston University, visited Elon this week to share stories about her work researching chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurological condition initially characterized by irritability, memory loss and difficulty concentrating.
In its advanced stages, CTE mimics the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and even amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS.
The Thursday evening talk in McCrary Theatre was the latest appearance by a prominent national researcher brought to campus as part of the Voices of Discovery Science Speaker Series.
McKee first noticed CTE several years ago in a 73-year-old former boxer with above average levels of tau protein deposited in the brain. Soon, several similar cases came to her attention, mainly from football players and boxers who experienced multiple concussions throughout their careers.
The next patient McKee noted with symptoms characteristic of CTE was Chris Nowinski, a former Harvard football player and WWE wrestler. McKee said Nowinski changed the trajectory of her career. After he started suffering from memory lapses, headaches and nightmares, Nowinski made it his mission to understand the long-term consequences of concussions.
Together, the two help manage the CTE Center at the Boston University School of Medicine. The center has identified more than 131 former athletes and military veterans who, upon their deaths, were found to have suffered from CTE.
“This only shows that we have a problem,” McKee said. “We’re not sure how big the problem is, but we know we have a problem.”
Many of the patients McKee studies are former NFL players, but she has also examined college and high school athletes, military veterans and competitors in sports such as rugby, soccer and boxing.
Early CTE may present as a behavioral or mood disorder and also can symptoms can include aggression, impulsivity, suicidal tendencies and loss of concentration. CTE was first described in 1928 by Harrison Martland who called it “Punch Drunk.”
Strides have been made in diagnosing CTE but there are still many things researchers do not know, McKee said. How can you diagnose CTE in people who are alive? How prevalent is CTE in the general population? Why are some people more susceptible to CTE?
Even though the condition has been described for years, there are still many people who do not believe that it is a real condition or do not believe it is brought about by trauma, McKee said. In 2009, she presented her research in front of an NFL panel that disregarded her research, leaving McKee discouraged.
“I was very naïve,” McKee said. “I was astounded they wanted to deny it. I was in a roomful of people who told me I was out of my mind.”
McKee said she is determined to learn as much as possible about CTE. “This is an issue we want to address rapidly,” she said. “We owe it to this young population that’s susceptible to figure out this disease as quickly as possible.”