Discovery Center for Brain Injury and Concussion Recovery

Every 45 seconds, someone in the U.S. suffers a brain injury. The rate of young adults diagnosed with concussion increased by 500% between 2010-2014. By 2020, brain injuries are expected to affect 10 million people world wide each year — surpassing many diseases as a major cause of death and disability. Survivors can spend the rest of their lives with impaired thinking, emotion, memory, and mobility, including paralysis. Yet conventional responses rely on narrow treatments that may limit patients’ chances for improved cognitive and physical function.

Here at Spaulding, the approach focuses on uncovering new and better therapies to optimize recovery, productivity, and quality of life. Under the guidance of Dr. Ross Zafonte, Spaulding's pioneering research is already accelerating knowledge that translates into better clinical care. An international trailblazer, Spaulding is home to one of the largest research studies in the field of traumatic brain injury (TBI), and is the only hospital in the U.S. to be awarded the prestigious Model System designation in TBI, Spinal Cord Injury and Burn Injury, all at the same time, by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research.

The time is now for Spaulding to lead survivors of brain injury to rehabilitation levels never before imagined. For this reason, Spaulding is establishing the Discovery Center for Brain Injury and Concussion Recovery within our new Research Institute.