Minds Matter Concussion Program

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Concussion is a rapidly changing field with an urgent unmet need for objective diagnostics and precision clinical care. Despite relatively high incidence, the diagnosis of concussion remains subjective and the treatment of pediatric concussions largely supportive.

The Minds Matter Concussion Program aims to change that. Since 2011, they have built the leading concussion care center in the region with a robust translational research and clinical trial capacity embedded in various clinical settings with diverse patient populations. This program has developed a comprehensive clinical assessment of concussion, while introducing vestibular/visual rehabilitation and exercise testing, and researching novel treatments such as heart rate-targeted aerobic therapy. The Minds Matter Concussion Frontier team will build on their progress to date by introducing pre-injury testing to assess concussion susceptibility and implement clinical diagnostic tools to objectively phenotype concussions, in order to prescribe personalized novel treatments.

The Minds Matter Concussion Frontier Program aims to:

Implement cutting-edge diagnostics (e.g., eye tracking, exercise testing, pupillometry) evaluated in the research arena to routinely phenotype concussions in the clinic
Pursue evaluation of additional objective measures of neurological function post-injury
Translate precision medicine therapies evaluated in research into standard care of concussions at CHOP (e.g., aerobic rehab, clinical nutraceutical)
Redefine pre-injury testing using physiological measures to guide post-injury management and genetic testing to measure concussion risk
Evaluate promising new acute treatments for concussion (e.g. target pharmaceutical compounds)
Develop biofluid biomarkers for concussion (blood, urine, saliva)

Through these efforts, our research can advance targeted interventions to improve diagnosis of concussion, optimize treatment to shorten recovery time and reduce poor long-term outcomes.