Concussion Legacy Foundation

The Concussion Legacy Foundation's (CLF) mission is to support athletes, Veterans, and all affected by concussions and CTE; achieve smarter sports and safer athletes through education and innovation; and to End CTE through prevention and research. Our vision is a world without CTE, and concussion safety without compromise. CLF is a Boston-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2007. Our founders Chris Nowinski, Ph.D., a former Harvard football player and professional wrestler in the WWE, and Dr. Robert Cantu, a world-renowned concussion expert, met when Dr. Cantu was treating Chris for his post-concussion syndrome. The pair recognized an enormous gap between medical knowledge and public awareness about the effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI) that left vulnerable populations at greater risk. They set a goal to change how brain trauma is understood by the public and how concussions are handled in sports. CLF put the neurodegenerative disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) on the map and has changed our understanding of the long-term effects of brain trauma. CTE was previously known as “punch drunk” syndrome because it was thought to only exist in boxers. CLF partnered with the US Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University to start the world's first CTE-focused brain bank, the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank. CLF leads outreach, recruiting, and education for the consortium and is responsible for recruiting over 800 brains, including the first case series of CTE in Veterans and the first CTE cases in rugby, soccer, ice hockey, baseball, college and high school football, and other sports.