Football Players Health Study at Harvard
Website | Harvard College
Launched in 2014, the Football Players Health Study at Harvard University is a comprehensive research program dedicated to examining the multifactorial causes that impact the total health and wellbeing of former NFL players. As the largest study ever conducted of living former players, our multidisciplinary team of faculty and researchers from Harvard University and other institutes, bring their expertise in fields such as neurology, cardiology, sports medicine, rehabilitation medicine, chronic pain, and public health, among others.
Goals:
Study the health of former players, examining the specific issues that impact their quality of life, and how their health may change over time
Better understand the benefits and risks of playing professional football
Identify health conditions that may be preventable, reversible, and/or treatable, to enhance quality of life
Develop interventions to improve health and wellbeing
Emphasize the importance of health equity and partner with the former player community in all aspects of research
All of our research is driven by community input and we strive to address your most pressing health concerns.
Our research program includes several initiatives that examine the spectrum of health concerns of former NFL players, focusing on conditions and injuries that they have identified as most important for both their short- and long-term health, as well as how this health has changed over time. Informed by advisors who are both former players and family members, we study everything from heart and brain health to sleep, chronic pain, and mobility.
To learn more about our studies, view our open studies in which former players can participate. To learn more about our research program, see our active and past projects.