Brain Research Project Proposed By White House

Brain MappingThe White House this week announced a new initiative at the federal level to better understand and map the human brain. An accurate map of the brain could greatly benefit traumatic brain injury victims as well as personal injury victims who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder or any number of brain disorders.

The White House plans to commit $100 million in funding in the first year of the initiative, much of which will come from the Defense Department. And because traumatic brain injury and mild traumatic brain injury (concussions) are the signature injuries for the recent wars in the middle east the Defense Department’s involvement makes perfect sense.

But not everyone is a fan with the President’s proposal. First, some critics argue that if the White House was truly serious, they would have Congress on board and they would be committing a far greater sum than $100 million. Second, some critics have actually argued that committing that much money behind one single project could harm numerous other projects that are underway and have been underway for years (see LA Times OP-ED here).

The involvement of the Defense Department will come from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which works on brain research that aids soldiers recovering from memory loss due to brain injuries as well as prosthetic technology for soldiers who have suffered spinal cord injuries. In fact, DARPA is already involved with numerous programs involving neuroscience with non-defense applications.

As personal injury attorneys who deal on a daily basis with individuals who have sustained serious head injuries, concussions, and brain injuries ranging from TBI to MTBI, we applaud the White House for it’s initiative and focus on mapping of the human brain due the benefits such a project can bring to the general public and specifically to personal injury victims.

But what is truly needed is not a re-bundling of current Defense Department programs for a photo-op, but a serious and prolonged emphasis on prevention, diagnosis, care and treatment of a disease (traumatic brain injury) that impacts millions of Americans annually. We are hopeful.

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