2026
Participation in Professional American-Style Football and Suicide Mortality: 1979–2019
In looking at suicide rates among professional athletes, we saw that MLB, NBA, and NFL players had comparable suicide rates until 2010. Starting in 2011, suicide rose 2.5 times among NFL players only.
Underdiagnosis of Sleep Apnea: What You Need to Know
2025
Health Information Seeking—CTE Perception and Suicide—Reply
Response to a letter to the editor written in response to an article in JAMA Neurology on CTE perception and suicide.
Traumatic brain injury and risk of malignant brain tumors in civilian populations
Severe--but not mild-- TBI was associated with increased risk of malignant brain tumors in patients across multiple health systems.
Contributors to caregiver burden, depression, and anxiety in the partners of professional American-style football players: a cross-sectional study
Factors associated with being partnered to a professional football player (e.g., frequent relocations, concerns about neurodegenerative disease) were associated with increased mood and caregiver burden symptoms. Higher reported marital satisfaction was protective against adverse neuropsychological outcomes.
Reliability of Concussion Signs and Symptoms Reporting Among Former Professional American-Style Football Players
Self-reported exposure to head injury as measured through recall of post-concussion signs and symptoms showed consistency over time, and was not related to current health status.
Concussions are Associated with Increases in Blood Pressure and Cardiovascular Risk in American-Style Football Athletes
We found a dose-response relationship between cumulative head injury exposure during football and later life self-reported high blood pressure.
Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury and Subsequent Risk of Developing Chronic Cardiovascular, Neurologic, Psychiatric, and Endocrine Disorders
Patients with traumatic spinal cord injuries are at significant risk of long-term adverse endocrine, cardiovascular, psychiatric, and neurologic outcomes, underscoring the need for multidisciplinary care.
2024
Perceived chronic traumatic encephalopathy and suicidality in former professional football players
One-third of former NFL players surveyed believed that they have CTE. These players are also more likely to report treatable conditions that cause cognitive symptoms, and more frequent thoughts of self-harm.
Perceived Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy And Suicidality In Former Professional American-style Football Players
Approximately one-third of former professional football players surveyed believe they have CTE, and these players were also more likely to report conditions that cause cognitive symptoms. Players who believe they have CTE are at twice greater risk of frequent thoughts of suicide.
Risk of long-term ischemic stroke in patients with traumatic brain injury and incident hypertension
Patients with traumatic brain injury have an elevated long-term risk of ischemic stroke, and post-TBI hypertension may serve as a mediator between head injury and stroke.
Concussion burden and later‐life cardiovascular risk factors in former professional American‐style football players
High blood pressure (hypertension) and high cholesterol were associated with head injury in a dose-response manner, especially in relatively younger former players. No links were seen between head injury and diabetes.
Age of First Exposure Does Not Relate to Post-Career Health in Former Professional American-Style Football Players
In a cohort of 4,000 former professional American-style football players, age of first exposure to organized football was not associated with any health outcome.
Interaction of medical conditions and football exposures associated with premortem chronic traumatic encephalopathy diagnosis in former professional American-style football players
Combinations of demographic, football, and current health factors raised the likelihood that a former player would report receiving a premortem CTE diagnosis. Many of the current health factors reported are considered treatable or manageable.
Medical conditions in former professional American-style football players are associated with self-reported clinical features of traumatic encephalopathy syndrome
Treatable conditions included high blood pressure, low testosterone and more were associated with meeting clinical criteria for traumatic encephalopathy syndrome among former professional football players.
Career duration and later-life health conditions among former professional American-style football players
Professional football career duration showed an inverted U-shaped relationship with a number of health outcomes including mood symptoms, chronic pain, and arthritis.
2023
Healthspan and chronic disease burden among young adult and middle-aged male former American-style professional football players
Middle-aged former football players showed increased prevalence of conditions associated with older age (e.g., arthritis, hypertension, high cholesterol, and dementia) when compared to an age-, race-, and BMI-matched cohort of non-athletes. Players lost approximately ten years of healthspan when compared to U.S. men.
Association of retrospectively reported concussion symptoms with objective cognitive performance in former American-style football players
Among former NFL players, cognitive function as measured through a virtual neuropsychological battery was associated with reported history of concussion, but not years played or age of first football exposure.
Tau positron emission tomography and neurocognitive function among former professional American-style football players
A PET neuroimaging study designed to measure tau deposits among living former professional football players found no associations between protein aggregation and football exposures or neurocognitive performance.
The paradox of integration: racial composition of NFL positions from 1960 to 2020
Despite increased overall racial diversity among the NFL, strong associations between race and position have prevailed or becom exacerbated over time.
Long-term risk of cardiovascular disease after traumatic brain injury: screening and prevention
Individuals who sustain a traumatic brain injury have a significantly elevated long-term risk of chronic cardiovascular disease compared with those without TBI. Proactive cardiovascular risk screening and prevention strategies may help reduce associated morbidity and mortality.
Race differences in pain and pain-related risk factors among former professional American-style football players
Black former players reported significantly more intense pain and greater pain interference in daily life than white players—even after accounting for age, football history, comorbidities, and psychosocial factors
Association between concussion burden during professional American-style football and post-career hypertension
Exposure to head injury during football play was associated with high blood pressure, especially among relatively young former players.
2022
Multi-modality human phenotyping to examine subjective and objective health afflictions in former professional American-style football players: The In-Person Assessment Study
This in-person clinical study was designed to phenotype former professional American-style football players. Assessments include polysomnography, X-ray, neuropsychological testing, pain, and cardiovascular function.
Individual and cumulative health afflictions are associated with greater impairment in physical and mental function in former professional American style football.
Single and multiple self-reported afflictions are strongly associated with worse mental and physical function, as well as pain interference among professional American-style football players.
Association of traumatic brain injury with the risk of developing chronic cardiovascular, endocrine, neurological, and psychiatric disorders
Regardless of injury severity, traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients have a significantly higher long-term risk of developing chronic cardiovascular, endocrine, neurological, and psychiatric conditions, even among younger adults.
2021
The impact of age and severity on dementia after traumatic brain injury: a comparison study
Traumatic brain injuries of any severity were associated with increased dementia risk among young and middle aged adults.
Social network structure and composition in former NFL football players
NFL players’ personal social networks were structurally similar in size and connectivity to those of non‑football U.S. males, but compositionally different. Players’ networks contained a higher proportion of men and friends rather than family, and, among Black players, greater racial diversity.
Concussion and risk of chronic medical and behavioral health comorbidities
A wide range of chronic medical and psychiatric comorbidities emerge within five years of concussion among a patient population.
Gaussian graphical modeling of the serum exposome and metabolome reveals interactions between environmental chemicals and endogenous metabolites
Using data from women firefighters and office workers, metabolomic profiling revealed associations between endocrine disrupting chemicals and inflammatory biological processes.
2020
Estimating the causal effect of prenatal lead exposure on prepulse inhibition deficits in children and adolescents
Higher prenatal exposure to lead may disrupt key developmental processes in utero, as revealed using a novel biomarker of neurotoxicant effects.
Uncertain Association Between Concussion and Hypogonadism—Reply
We responded to a letter to the editor regarding a JAMA Neurology study on cumulative head injury, and endocrine and sexual dysfunction.
Integrating exposure knowledge and serum suspect screening as a new approach to biomonitoring: an application in firefighters and office workers
A combination of high throughput screening and expert knowledge can identify and prioritize understudied chemicals in serum from occupational cohorts.
Premortem chronic traumatic encephalopathy diagnoses in professional football
Former professional football players report being told they have CTE, a condition that can only be diagnosed on autopsy. Those reporting CTE diagnoses were more likely to have conditions associated with cognitive dysfunction.
2019
Defining exposures in professional football: professional American-Style football players as an occupational cohort
This narrative review presents former professional football players using an occupational epidemiological lens to present the benefits and biases associated with different measures of football exposure.
Exposure to American football and neuropsychiatric health in former national football league players: findings from the football players health study
Among former NFL players, career duration, position, and concussion symptom history were associated with poorer cognitive quality of life.
Association of concussion symptoms with testosterone levels and erectile dysfunction in former professional US-style football players
Head injuries accrued during football play are associated with sexual and endocrine dysfunction.
Socio-demographic predictors of prepulse inhibition: a prospective study in children and adolescents from Mexico City
Among a community cohort of Mexican children and adolescents, data suggest that basic socio-demographic characteristics influence the development of sensorimotor gating in youth.
2018
Novel application of normalized pointwise mutual information (NPMI) to mine biomedical literature for gene sets associated with disease: Use case in breast cancer
Data mining can be an effective tool when identifying novel gene targets related to breast carcinogenesis.
BCScreen: A gene panel to test for breast carcinogenesis in chemical safety screening
BCScreen is a novel targeted panel of 500 genes designed to detect and characterize potential breast carcinogens in chemical safety testing.
2016
Recent research on Gulf War illness and other health problems in veterans of the 1991 Gulf War: Effects of toxicant exposures during deployment
Exposures experienced by Gulf War veterans in theatre are linked to long-term health issues.
2015
The relationship between occupational metal exposure and arterial compliance
In a small occupational cohort of welders, higher cumulative nickel exposure measured in toenail was significantly associated with increased arterial stiffness.
Cumulative lead exposure is associated with reduced olfactory recognition performance in elderly men: the Normative Aging Study
Among a community sample of elderly men, higher long term doses of lead as measured in tibial bone lead was associated with reduced olfactory function, often considered a early marker of neurodegenerative disease risk.
2014
Toenail metal concentration as a biomarker of occupational welding fume exposure
Among welders, exposure to metal-rich welding fumes correlated with metal concentrations in toenail samples.
Inverse association between toenail arsenic and body mass index in a population of welders
Welders with higher BMI showed a surprising inverse relationship with toenail arsenic. Future research is needed to determine the biomechanisms behind this reduced exposure.
Sexual and physical abuse in childhood is associated with depression and anxiety over the life course: systematic review and meta-analysis
Childhood physical and sexual abuse was significantly associated with later-life depression and anxiety.
The association between global DNA methylation and telomere length in a longitudinal study of boilermakers
Men occupationally exposed to heavy metals showed epigenetic changes in telomere length, a common measure of cellular aging and repair.
2013
Cumulative lead exposure in community-dwelling adults and fine motor function: comparing standard and novel tasks in the VA normative aging study
Higher cumulative lead exposure—as measured by bone lead—was significantly associated with poorer performance on both standard and novel fine motor function tasks in older adults,
Lead exposure and fear-potentiated startle in the VA Normative Aging Study: a pilot study of a novel physiological approach to investigating neurotoxicant effects
Higher lead exposure measured in bone altered neural circuits involved in fear and emotional processing.
2012
Statistics of neuronal identification with open-and closed-loop measures of intrinsic excitability
Traditional and novel evaluations of neuronal excitability measured by the dynamic clamp improved classification of stomatogastric neurons in Cancer borealis.
2010
PhD Thesis: Understanding neuronal dynamics using two-cell circuits and the dynamic clamp
My PhD thesis explored whether categorizing and describing neurons using standard isolating techniques is adequate for predicting neuronal behavior in network.
Compensation for variable intrinsic neuronal excitability by circuit-synaptic interactions
Despite individual neurons having widely variable intrinsic excitability, synaptic and intrinsic conductances in a network can be tuned to produce consistent and similar circuit outputs.
2009
Cancer borealis stomatogastric nervous system dissection
This video demonstrates the dissection of the stomatogastric nervous system from the Jonah crab, Cancer borealis.
Using the Dynamic Clamp to Explore the Relationship Between Intrinsic Activity and Network Dynamics
Dynamic clamp experiments suggest that intrinsic excitability alone does not determine network behavior and that network context critically modulates how individual neurons contribute to circuit dynamics.
Reliable neuromodulation from circuits with variable underlying structure
Neuromodulators produce consistent and robust changes in circuit activity across neuronal networks with highly variable synaptic and intrinsic properties
2007
How tightly tuned are network parameters? Insight from computational and experimental studies in small rhythmic motor networks
Small neural network function is robust, even amid substantial biological variability in synaptic and intrinsic excitability.
Do conventional measures of intrinsic properties predict a neuron’s behavior in a network?
Standard intrinsic electrophysiological measures often fail to reliably predict how neurons actually behave within synaptically connected networks, because network context and interactions can profoundly alter neuronal activity.