Alan Quasha Finance » Brain Trauma Foundation

“Real Warriors”

admin — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 11:00:21 +0000

“Real Warriors” is a campaign launched by members of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury. This project aims to heal veterans who seek treatment for the invisible TBIs they have suffered from since their service, as well as to eliminate the humiliation of seeking psychological health care.

Retired Army Major Ed Pulido explained that his “mission through the Real Warriors campaign is let our noncommissioned officers, enlisted personnel and other officers know that we can’t leave anyone behind in the field of battle.” He added that post-traumatic stress doesn’t mean that there is something wrong with you. “There is no way the images of that day and the traumatic injury I received from that blast are going to go away… But what we can do is understand it, live with it, and know that if you have any emotional episode about that experience, that it is healthy. It’s part of your healing.”

The Brain Trauma Foundation, with Chairman Alan Quasha, is another organization which works to promote the importance of brain trauma awareness and treatment, as well as to provide new, innovative solutions to the various repercussions of TBIs.

Traumatic Brain Injury May Be Treatable

admin — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 11:51:51 +0000

A recent study depicting the slow-developing effects of an injury to the brain may change the way those brain injuries are treated.

The Brain Trauma Foundation, chaired by financier Alan Quasha, highlighted media reports of a new study published in The Journal for Nuclear Medicine (JNM), which found that the changes in brain structure and function after a traumatic brain injury (TBI) to develop and evolve for months after the actual injury occurs. Medical scientists are hypothesizing that this progressive impact could give doctors the opportunity to stop the damage before it occurs, and thus decrease the long-term neurological and cognitive effects of the TBI. The research could thus be applied towards the development of new therapies for the dealing with brain injury and its related conditions.

Concussion Awareness Campaign

Admin2 — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 07:58:07 +0000

The Brain Trauma Foundation (BTF), chaired by Alan Quasha, reports that concussion, or mild TBI (traumatic brain injury) is by far the most underdiagnosed and underestimated of the millions of head injuries suffered by people in the United States. Concussion represents a particular problem for individuals of all ages, and is of particular concern to those involved in school sports.

That’s why, this September, the National Athletic Trainers’ Association and the National Academy of Neuropsychology Foundation launched a campaign to educate athletes, coaches, teachers and parents about concussion. At the same time, in Washington DC, the House Education and Labor Committee introduced legislation to delineate guidelines for concussion prevention and to create a standardized response plan for treating those that do occur.

Important Brain Trauma Foundation Webinar

admin — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 09:47:56 +0000

On December 1, the Brain Trauma Foundation will be hosting a webinar on Decompressive Craniectomy for patients with severe TBI – a randomized trial. The speaker for this will be Jamie Cooper, MD. Who is currently in charge of Trauma Intensive Care at The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Melbourne. In addition to this role, he works as a Clinical Associate Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Surgery at Monash University and an NHMRC Practitioner Fellow. Other credentials include: the Australian Chief Investigator leading a research team that was awarded a three-year NRP grant in 2004 for the Perth component of a multi-center trial known as ‘DECRA,’ which investigates a surgical procedure sometimes used in an attempt to reduce the brain pressure caused by swelling after a head injury. This operation is known as decompressive craniectomy (DC), which should be undertaken during the early phase after injury in an attempt to improve neurological outcomes in patients. Alan Quasha is president of the BTF.

Football, Brain Trauma & More

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:50:46 +0000

If you love football and you love sarcasm, this is the post for you. This recent tongue-in-cheek article in The New York Times highlights many of the recent problems that college and professional football have seen. From brain injury research, like that highlighted at the Brain Trauma Foundation with Alan Quasha, to problems with the national championship games, the article touches on it all.
At the conclusion, author George Vecsey states, “Finally, fans cannot afford to contemplate the information about brain damage being unearthed by scientists and doctors and reported by Alan Schwarz in The New York Times. Just guessing that broadcasters of college and pro games will not burden fans with the details. Enjoy the spectacle. It’s entertainment.”

Diagnosing Traumatic Brain Injuries

admin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 09:36:00 +0000

It is not always so easy to diagnose traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). The Brain Trauma Foundation of which Alan Quasha is chairman, works hard to “improve[e] the outcome of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) patients worldwide by developing best practices guidelines, conducting clinical research, and educating medical professionals and consumers.” What often hinders and delays the recovery of TBI victims – as has been the case in America’s military recently – is that it has been hard to “diagnose troops with TBI” “despite billions in research dollars.” It has been found that one of the biggest problems is that experts in the field simply cannot pinpoint exactly how the injuries happen and “the workings of the brain remain largely a mystery.” Organizations such as the Brain Trauma Foundation are working hard to alleviate this issue so that TBI victims are given the best chance of recovery.

Alan Quasha and TBI

admin — Sat, 15 May 2010 07:04:36 +0000

Alan Quasha knows quite a bit about Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). It is Quasha who today chairs the Brain Trauma Foundation’s Board of Directors. The foundation was established in 1986 to “support research on TBI.” There are always new developments being established and researched in this field. Most recently, the US military now has plans for clinical trials to discover whether “breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized chamber helps brain injuries to heal.” Even if the injuries are not actually completely healed, such a process it is hoped, might actually relieve headaches and other symptoms associated with TBI. Such an achievement would definitely be welcome news for Alan Quasha and all those working at the Brain Trauma Foundation.
The trials are set to take place in North Carolina, Texas, Colorado and California and will involve testing approximately 300 service members suffering from mild to moderate brain injuries. Although the therapy currently cannot boast any proven records, it still warrants trials. This is because, according to Col. Richard Ricciardi of the Defense Center of Excellence, in theory, more oxygen will dissolve in the blood in a body that is under pressure. As well, higher oxygen levels have been able to help in the healing of tissue.
Anything that could potentially help TBI sufferers is for sure something Alan Quasha and all those at the Brain Trauma Foundation would support. This is especially true in this kind of study involving service members, since, almost 120,000 individuals have been victim to brain trauma injuries in the last seven years.

“Leaders” Interviews Alan Quasha

admin — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 09:27:08 +0000

‘Leaders,’ the online magazine which covers “the broad range of leadership thoughts and visions of the world’s most influential people, interviewed Alan Quasha in April, 2009.

Alan Quasha’s answer as to how he was going to “give back” to the community which has helped in to succeed is as follows:

“Again, it’s consistent with our philosophy about working with organizations that aren’t necessarily well known, but have a huge personal impact. When he was younger, one of my sons went into a coma because he had what is called a traumatic brain injury, or TBI. Through that experience, I learned a lot about TBI and became involved with the Brain Trauma Foundation. I understood the enormous impact that TBI could have on families, both emotional and financial. I was asked to chair the Brain Trauma Foundation and this great organization has made tremendous changes to how TBI is treated throughout the United States and the world.”