The University of Washington in Seattle is investigating Richard G. Ellenbogen, MD, co-chairman of the NFL's Head, Neck and Spine Committee, according to an ESPN report.
Here are six key notes:
1. A congressional report released in May named Dr. Ellenbogen, chairman of the neurological surgery department at Seattle-based University of Washington Medicine, one of the main proponents of an attempt to influence a major study that aimed to find ways to detect chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a disease found in numerous dead NFL players.
2. The report named Dr. Ellenbogen as one of six who tried to pressure the National Institutes of Health to take funding away from the study. The congressional report also implicates former NFL medical advisor Elliot Pellman, MD, who retired earlier this week, and NFL's chief health and medical adviser, Elizabeth Nabel, MD, as having played a part in the affair, according to an earlier ESPN report.
3. This month, VICE Sports revealed emails that show Dr. Ellenbogen was trying to get an NIH official fired because the official had refused his request to include more NFL-affiliated physicians at a workshop on CTE led by the NIH.
4. Over the last two years Dr. Ellenbogen received $109,867 from the NIH for a neuroscience training program. He and UW Medicine have also received millions in funds from the NFL.
5. An NFL spokesperson wrote in an email to an ESPN television show that at present Dr. Ellenbogen has the support of the league and will retain his position as co-chairman of the Head, Neck and Spine Committee.
6. The investigation was set into motion at the request of Paul G. Ramsey, MD, dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Washington.