A traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as an intracranial injury, is an injury to the brain caused by an external force. TBI can be classified based on severity, mechanism, or other features. Head injury is a broader category that may involve damage to other structures such as the scalp and skull. TBI can result in physical, cognitive, social, emotional and behavioral symptoms, and outcomes can range from complete recovery to permanent disability or death.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head. The encephalopathy symptoms can include behavioral problems, mood problems, and problems with thinking. The disease often gets worse over time and can result in dementia. It is unclear if the risk of suicide is altered.
Polytrauma and multiple trauma are medical terms describing the condition of a person who has been subjected to multiple traumatic injuries, such as a serious head injury in addition to a serious burn. The term is defined via an Injury Severity Score (ISS) equal to or greater than 16. It has become a commonly applied term by US military physicians in describing the seriously injured soldiers returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The term is generic, however, and has been in use for a long time for any case involving multiple trauma.
The Center for the Intrepid is a rehabilitation facility to treat amputees and burn victims. It is located next to the San Antonio Military Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. It was specifically built to provide care for United States servicemen and women who have served in military operations in the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan. Veterans from previous conflicts are also eligible to receive treatment as well as other military personnel who have sustained injuries in other operations, training exercises, or in non-combat situations. It provides training to help disabled servicemen use prosthetics, perform everyday tasks, and reintegrate with society.
The Madigan Army Medical Center, located on Joint Base Lewis-McChord just outside Lakewood, Washington, is a key component of the Madigan Healthcare System and one of the largest military hospitals on the West Coast of the United States.
The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF) is a global non-profit organization created by Congress in 1983.
The President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors, also known as the Dole-Shalala Commission, was established on March 6, 2007, when U.S. President George W. Bush signed Executive Order 13426. The Commission was established to examine and recommend improvements to the effectiveness and quality of transition from a return to military service or civilian society, health care, benefits, outreach to Service members, and awareness by Service members of health care and benefits programs.
UFC: Fight for the Troops was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on December 10, 2008, at the Cumberland County Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
David Xavier Cifu is an American physiatrist, researcher, and medical educator. He is the Associate Dean for Innovation and System Integration in the School of Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, the chairman and Herman J. Flax M.D. Professor of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, Virginia, staff physiatrist at the Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Administration Medical Center (HHM-VAMC), founding director of the VCU-Center for Rehabilitation Science and Engineering and senior TBI specialist in the Department of Veterans Affairs' Veterans Health Administration.
Under the Hood Café was a coffee house located at 17 South College Street in Killeen, Texas. It provided services for soldiers located at Fort Hood, one of the largest American military installation in the world. Under the Hood Café was first managed by Cynthia Thomas,
The Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) organization that provides guidance across DoD programs related to psychological health (PH) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) issues. The organization's official mission is to "improve the lives of our nation’s service members, families and veterans by advancing excellence in psychological health and traumatic brain injury prevention and care."
The Naval Center for Combat and Operational Stress Control (NCCOSC) is a U.S. Navy Medicine organization established to promote psychological health in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. It is a culturally relevant center that leverages sound medical knowledge to improve resilience, preserve psychological health, improve care for sailors, marines and their families and facilitate Navy Medicine research efforts on psychological health and traumatic brain injury.
The National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) is a Department of Defense organization working to advance the clinical care, diagnosis, research and education of military service members with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and psychological health (PH) conditions. While its sister organization, the Center for the Intrepid, treats amputee and/or burned service members, the NICoE provides diagnostic evaluations and treatment of complex TBI and PH conditions to promote physical, psychological and spiritual healing.
The National Center for Telehealth & Technology (T2) is one of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE), a part of the Military Health System (MHS). T2 was originally established to lead the integration of behavioural sciences with technology to provide solutions for psychological health and traumatic brain injury (TBI). T2 is a principal coordinator of United States Department of Defense (DoD) initiatives involving telehealth, online health tools, suicide surveillance and prevention, and information technology.
The Military Acute Concussion Evaluation (MACE) is a medical screening and documentation measure that is used to gauge the severity of symptoms and cognitive deficits after a diagnosis of a concussion has been made. Taking less than 15 minutes to administer, it involves collecting a history of the injury event and the symptoms experienced at that time, followed by a brief neurological screening, and a similarly short cognitive test. The score is presented with a listing of symptoms endorsed and a red or green light regarding the neurological screen. All cases of a concussion result in mandatory restricted duty for 24 hours followed by immediate reevaluation via the MACE. Similarly, the MACE is most effective if given within 24 hours of the injury event to fully gauge the level of possible brain injury. The MACE has been distributed to all branches of the US military. It is currently used in DVBIC and the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Health Administration are partners in clinical care, education, research and care coordination for veterans and active-duty service members who have sustained a traumatic brain injury.
The Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) is an organization offering training for behavioral health professionals who provide mental health services unique to the experience of deployment in the United States Armed Forces for active-duty military service members, veterans and their families. CDP is headquartered at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) in Bethesda, Maryland, and is funded by the United States Department of Defense.
The Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium or CENC is a federally funded research project devised to address the long-term effects of mild traumatic brain injury in military service personnel (SMs) and Veterans. Announced by President Barack Obama on August 20, 2013, the CENC was one of two major initiatives developed in response to the injuries incurred by U.S. service personnel during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The project is jointly funded in the amount of $62.175 million by the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The CENC is led by Dr. David X. Cifu of the Virginia Commonwealth University.
The Traumatic Brain Injury Reauthorization Act of 2013 is a bill that would reauthorize appropriations for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) projects to reduce the incidence of traumatic brain injury and projects related to track and monitor traumatic brain injuries.
Warrior Care Network is a mental health program that provides care, travel, and accommodations at no cost for United States veterans and their families. Treatment options consist of intensive outpatient care, mainly focusing on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI), military sexual trauma (MST), and related conditions such as anxiety and depression. Warrior Care Network began accepting veterans into the program on January 15, 2016. It was created by a joint effort between Wounded Warrior Project, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and partners consisting of four academic medical research hospitals located throughout the United States. The four programs are Operation Mend at UCLA Health, the Veterans Program at Emory Healthcare, Road Home at Rush University Medical Center, and Home Base, a Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Program.
Alison Nenos Cernich is an American neuropsychologist specializing in traumatic brain injury and computerized neuropsychological assessment. She is the deputy director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Cernich was previously deputy director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, assistant professor of neurology at University of Maryland School of Medicine, and chief of neuropsychology at the VA Maryland Health Care System.
