WASHINGTON D.C., Sept. 5 -- Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA), the Congressional champion for brain science research and author of the Fattah Neuroscience Initiative, issues this statement in response to today’s $30 million grant by the National Football League to the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health:

“Brain injury and brain disease impact millions of individual American families and our health as a nation, yet we are just beginning to focus on this critical challenge in a coordinated way. Advancing our knowledge and treatment in neuroscience requires a mix of public-private resources and partnerships. The National Football League is showing the way with today’s generous, well-placed gift.

“The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health performs a central role in medical research funded by the citizens of the United States through NIH. This $30 million grant provides a model for significant public-private research partnership to learn more about how our brains function, develop and misfire. The NFL and the FNIH are to be commended for joining up on this major step.

“I look forward to working with our federal science agencies and with private/nonprofit partners including the pharmaceutical industry, other businesses, sports, academic and research institutions, the military, the National Science Foundation and other government research agencies to assure that we advance brain science in a cooperative fashion.”

Congressman Fattah, in his ninth term from Philadelphia, is a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee. The Fattah Neuroscience Initiative includes a major provision enacted by Congress last year which designates the Interagency Working Group on Neuroscience at the White House to coordinate federal brain injury and brain disease research. Currently at least four federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, are funding or overseeing various aspects of neuroscience research. The Fattah Initiative also calls for developing public-private partnerships in brain science research.