The NCAA-U.S. Department of Defense Concussion Assessment, Research and Education Consortium is the largest concussion and repetitive head impact study in history. The project, funded by the NCAA and DOD, launched in 2014 and now includes participants on 30 campuses across the country. The CARE Consortium, part of the broader NCAA-DOD Grand Alliance, is composed of two major components: a clinical study core, which aims to define how symptoms and physical signs manifest and evolve over time in different people (known in the scientific community as the “natural history” of concussion), and the advanced research core, which seeks to identify the neurobiology of concussion and repetitive head impact exposure (how the brain itself is affected).

The initial phase of CARE focused on the six-month natural history and neurobiology of acute concussion and HIE. The second phase, CARE 2.0, prospectively investigated the intermediate effects — such as changes in brain health outcomes over a college career — and early persistent health effects associated with HIE and concussion soon after graduation. The third phase will investigate the nature and causes of long-term effects of head impact exposure (HIE) and concussion/mild traumatic brain injury in NCAA student-athletes and military service members. 

Each of those goals is rooted in the desire to enhance the health and safety of NCAA student-athletes and service members and will serve as a valuable resource for youth sports participants and society at large.

Study Milestones

Tracking the CARE study’s evolution as it reaches vital funding and research benchmarks. Check back for more updates as the study progresses.

• May 2014

  $30 million NCAA-Department of Defense Grand Alliance announced.

• August 2014

  Data collection begins.

• September 2015

  DOD contributes $11 million in supplementary funding to support the aims of CARE by studying service academy cadets in addition to NCAA student-athletes.

• March 2016

  CARE Consortium research data is presented at the World Congress on Brain Injury at The Hague, Netherlands.

• March 2017

  First CARE research paper published.

• August 2017

  NCAA contributes nearly $1 million for additional member schools to contribute data to the CARE study through CARE Affiliated Programs.

• February 2018

  NCAA and DOD solidify plans for transition from CARE’s first phase (acute effects of concussion and repetitive head impact exposure) to its next (intermediate and cumulative effects of concussion and repetitive head impact exposure).

• September 2018

  NCAA and DOD contribute an additional $22.5 million in funding for CARE’s second  phase, CARE 2.0.

• October 2021

  NCAA-DoD CARE Consortium receives a $42.65 million award to launch CARE-SALTOS Integrated, the third phase of study.

Study Participants

Testing is underway at 30 campuses, including six schools where athletes undergo advanced imaging tests and blood draws.

The CARE Consortium is overseen by principal investigators at research institutions. Indiana University School of Medicine serves as the administrative and operations core and is the central coordination center for the CARE Consortium. Led by Dr. Thomas W. McAllister, chair of the Indiana University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, the Indiana team provides regulatory and fiduciary oversight, as well as as biostatistics and data management, neuroimaging, bioinformatics, biomarkers/biospecimen management, and other support resources for the consortium.

The University of Michigan leads the longitudinal clinical study core, a prospective, multi-institution clinical research protocol studying the natural history of concussion among NCAA student-athletes and military service academy cadets. Steven Broglio, Ph.D., professor of kinesiology and director of the Michigan Concussion Center at the University of Michigan, leads this effort.

Michael McCrea, Ph.D., professor of neurosurgery and co-director of the Center for Neurotrauma Research at the Medical College of Wisconsin, directs the advanced research core, which includes head impact sensor technologies, advanced neuroimaging and biological markers that include detailed genetic testing.

The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences coordinates engagement with the four military academies in the consortium. Retired Army Col. Paul F. Pasquina, M.D., professor and chair of the department of rehabilitation medicine and director of the Center for Rehabilitation Sciences Research, leads this aspect of the study.