Dear Colleague:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is pleased to offer Heads Up: Brain Injury in Your Practice as part of a national initiative to prevent mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) and improve clinical management for patients with MTBI. This tool kit is part of CDC's response to the Congressional TBI Act Amendments of 2000, which mandate attention to this public health concern. Physicians play a key role in this national initiative by helping their patients prevent MTBIs and improving patient outcomes when MTBIs occur. 

Clinical research has shown that MTBIs may cause serious, lasting problems. Every year in the United States: 

• More than 1.5 million people experience a traumatic brain injury (TBI); 
• Approximately 1.1 million people, or 75 percent of all those with a TBI, sustain a MTBI; 
• In addition to the human toll, MTBIs cost the nation nearly $17 billion each year.

This new tool kit provides information about MTBI prevention and resources to help physicians with early diagnosis, management, and monitoring of patients with MTBI. The kit contains:

• Clinical information; 
• Patient education materials in English and Spanish;
• A palm card on managing sports-related head injuries; 
• A CD-ROM with additional information and resources; and
• A postage-paid card for reordering additional patient materials. 

We are pleased to be joined in this educational effort by a number of noted professional, government, and voluntary organizations interested in improving outcomes for patients with MTBI. We hope you will find this tool kit useful in your practice. 

Your views about the tool kit are invaluable to us and we invite you to share them with us. Please email your comments to zlo5@cdc.gov with a subject line "MTBI Tool Kit" or fax comments to 770-488-4338, attention MTBI Tool Kit.

Sincerely yours, 

Sue Binder, M.D. 
Director
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention   

 
Traumatic Brain Injury Tool Kit Advisory Committee

Allan I. Bergman
President, CEO
Brain Injury Association of America 
Alexandria, VA

Jason E. Bolden, MD
Department of Emergency Medicine
Mount Sinai Medical Center
New York, NY

Victor G. Coronado, MD, MPH
Medical Epidemiologist 
National Center for Injury Prevention 
and Control
Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention
Atlanta, GA 

Wayne Gordon, PhD
Professor & Associate Director
Chief of Psychology Service
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine
Mt. Sinai School of Medicine
New York, NY 

Betty Hastings, MSW
Director, Traumatic Brain Injury Program 
Maternal and Child Health Bureau 
Health Resources and Services 
Administration 
Rockville, MD 

James P. Kelly, MD
Chicago Neurological Institute
Chicago, IL 60611 

David Kushner, MD
Associate Professor of Neurology 
School of Medicine
University of Miami
Miami, FL

Jean Langlois, ScD, MPH
Epidemiologist
National Center for Injury Prevention 
and Control
Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention
Atlanta, GA 

Jane P. McDonald, MEd, CHES
Health Communications Specialist
National Center for Injury Prevention 
and Control
Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention
Atlanta, GA 

Claudia L. Osborn, DO, FACOI
Associate Clinical Professor of 
Internal Medicine 
Michigan State University
Grosse Pointe, MI

Michael P. Pietrzak, MD, FACEP
Executive Director and 
Director of Medical Affairs
International Brain Injury Association
Alexandria, VA

James Schraa, PsyD
Clinical Neuropsychologist
Craig Hospital
Englewood, CO

Ricardo Senno, MD, MS
Interim Medical Director 
Brain Injury Medicine 
and Rehabilitation Program
Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago
Chicago, IL 

Lisa Ward
Director of Communications
Brain Injury Association of America
Alexandria, VA