Paul Allen is a smart man. He made billions of dollars using his brain as a co-founder of Microsoft, developing ways to make computers relevant for home use and everyday life. He since has ventured into many business arenas, not the least of which have been ownership of the Portland Trail Blazers and the Seattle Seahawks.
Now, at the same time he is paying football players big money to ram their heads into other football players, he is putting some of his money toward research into the effects of those repeated collisions. Allen announced last week that he has given $2.37 million toward the study of traumatic brain injuries and the long-lasting impact. The grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation will go to the University of Washington and Allen’s own Allen Institute for Brain Science, allowing a team of Seattle-based researchers to study whether brain trauma and concussions are likely to lead to long-term afflictions such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s.
“Awareness of TBI has grown in recent years, but our understanding of what actually happens to the brain in the years following that type of injury is still a great mystery,” foundation vice president Susan M. Coliton said.
While the study will not be limited to football injuries, brain trauma has become one of the primary issues facing the sport — particularly at the professional level of the National Football League. Earlier this year, the NFL agreed to a $765 million settlement in a lawsuit brought by 4,500 former players who contend that the league covered up its knowledge of the effects of traumatic brain injury. And in recent years, former high-profile players Junior Seau and Dave Duerson committed suicide by shooting themselves in the chest so researchers could study their degenerative brain injuries.