ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Chris Nowinski - Social entrepreneur
Dr. Chris Nowinski is leading a global conversation on concussions, CTE and the future of sports.

Why you should listen

Dr. Chris Nowinski is an All-Ivy Harvard football player-turned WWE professional wrestler-turned neuroscientist. He discovered the concussion crisis the hard way: a 2003 kick to the chin in a WWE tag-team match ended his career, causing post-concussion syndrome and sending him on a journey where he uncovered a public health conspiracy that continues to cost lives. 

Nowinski wrote the investigative expose Head Games: Football’s Concussion Crisis in 2006 and soon after founded the non-profit Concussion Legacy Foundation (CLF), where he serves as CEO. He co-founded the world-famous Boston University (BU) CTE Center, where he serves as the outreach, recruitment, education, and public policy leader, as well as the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, where he led recruitment for the 2017 study that found 110 of 111 deceased NFL players had CTE. His journey has been profiled in media outlets like HBO's "Real Sports"ESPN's "Outside the Lines" and the New York Times, and he was the subject of the award-winning documentary Head Games: The Global Concussion Crisis by celebrated director Steve James.

Nowinski earned his doctorate in behavioral neuroscience from Boston University School of Medicine and has authored more than 25 scientific publications. VICE Sports called Nowinski "the man most responsible for making CTE part of the national conversation," and Sports Illustrated said, "It is Nowinski's figure which looms behind the doctors and the headlines and the debate roiling over sports'newfound commitment to minimizing head trauma."

More profile about the speaker
Chris Nowinski | Speaker | TED.com
TEDxBeaconStreet

Chris Nowinski: Can I have your brain? The quest for truth on concussions and CTE

Chris Nowinski: Posso ficar com seu cérebro? A busca pela verdade sobre as concussões e a ETC

Filmed:
1,142,793 views

Algo estranho e mortal está acontecendo dentro do cérebro dos melhores atletas: uma condição degenerativa, possivelmente associada a concussões, que causa demência, psicose e morte muito prematura. É chamada de ETC (encefalopatia traumática crônica), e é o mistério médico que Chris Nowinski quer solucionar analisando o cérebro após a morte. Por esse motivo, quando Nowinski encontra um atleta profissional, sua primeira pergunta é: "Posso ficar com seu cérebro?" Saiba mais sobre esse esforço inovador para proteger o cérebro de atletas e o seu também.
- Social entrepreneur
Dr. Chris Nowinski is leading a global conversation on concussions, CTE and the future of sports. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
I'm Chris Nowinski, and odds are
if you've met me in the last five years
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Sou Chris Nowinski, e é provável que,
se me conheceram nos últimos cinco anos,
00:16
I've asked you, after a few minutes,
a bit of an odd question:
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após alguns minutos, fiz a vocês
uma pergunta estranha:
00:20
Can I have your brain?
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"Posso ficar com seu cérebro?"
00:22
Now, it only seems like a strange question
if you don't know my story
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Só parece uma pergunta estranha
se você não conhece minha história.
00:25
so please let me share it with you.
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Por favor, deixem-me
compartilhá-la com vocês.
00:28
I grew up outside of Chicago,
and I was an athlete
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Cresci fora de Chicago, era atleta
00:31
and I was very lucky to get recruited
to play football at Harvard University.
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e tive sorte de ser escolhido para jogar
futebol americano na Universidade Harvard.
00:36
So that's me.
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Este sou eu.
00:37
And then after graduating,
like most Harvard graduates,
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Após a graduação, como a maioria
dos formados em Harvard,
00:40
I decided I wanted to join the WWE.
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decidi que queria entrar para a WWE.
00:43
So that's also me.
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Este também sou eu.
00:44
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
00:47
Sure you remember me
from Monday Night Raw in 2002 and 2003,
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Claro que vocês se lembram de mim
do Monday Night Raw de 2002 e 2003,
00:50
and I had a blast
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e curti muito ser o que as pessoas
carinhosamente gostam de chamar
00:52
playing what people
affectionately like to call
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00:55
Chris Harvard, the Ivy League snob.
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de Chris Harvard, o esnobe da Ivy League.
00:57
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
00:59
It was perfect for me.
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Era perfeito para mim.
01:00
But unfortunately,
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Mas, infelizmente,
01:02
I got kicked in the head
by my colleague Bubba Ray Dudley,
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levei um chute na cabeça
do meu colega Bubba Ray Dudley,
01:06
and I suffered a severe concussion.
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e sofri uma concussão grave.
01:08
And it led to what became
permanent postconcussion symptoms:
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Isso levou ao que se tornaram sintomas
de pós-concussão permanentes:
01:12
constant headaches, inability to sleep,
depression, feeling in a fog.
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dores de cabeça constantes, dificuldade
para dormir, depressão, atordoamento.
01:17
And in that first year,
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Naquele primeiro ano,
01:18
I tried to figure out
how could I make this pain go away.
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tentei descobrir como fazer
aquela dor sumir.
01:22
And I wasn't getting
the answers I needed from doctors,
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Eu não estava conseguindo
as respostas que eu precisava,
01:24
and so I started digging
into the medical literature.
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então, comecei a pesquisar
na literatura médica.
01:27
And I found there's
this whole story about concussions
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Descobri que havia
uma história de concussões
que não estava sendo contada para nós.
01:30
that we weren't really being told.
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Decidi escrever um livro sobre isso
01:31
So I decided to write a book about it,
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chamado "Head Games: Football's
Concussion Crisis", lançado em 2006.
01:33
called "Head Games:
Football's Concussion Crisis"
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01:35
that came out in 2006.
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Mas, naquele processo, descobri
que não se tratava apenas de concussões.
01:37
But in that process, I learned
it's not really just about concussions.
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01:40
I learned about a disease called
chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE.
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Descobri uma doença chamada
encefalopatia traumática crônica ou ETC.
01:45
What we used to call punch-drunk,
because we only knew about it from boxers.
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Chamávamos de atordoamento,
porque só sabíamos disso pelos boxeadores.
01:49
We knew that getting hit in the head
too many times with boxers
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Sabíamos que ser atingido muitas vezes
na cabeça, como os boxeadores,
01:53
would cause their brain to essentially
start to rot, to degenerate.
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faria com que o cérebro começasse
a deteriorar, a se degenerar.
01:57
And they'd have symptoms
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Eles tinham sintomas, como perda
de memória e problemas cognitivos,
01:58
like memory problems
and problems with cognition,
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02:01
depression, impulse
control issues, aggression.
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depressão, problemas de controle
de impulso, agressividade.
02:05
So basically, I got ...
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Basicamente,
02:09
I got injured at the right time,
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eu me machuquei na hora certa,
02:11
in which the first two NFL players
were studied for this disease.
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quando os dois primeiros jogadores da NFL
foram estudados para essa doença.
02:15
And it turned out they both had it.
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Aconteceu que ambos tinham.
02:17
The first was Mike Webster,
50 years old, already had dementia.
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O primeiro foi Mike Webster,
50 anos, já com demência.
02:21
The second, Terry Long,
45 years old when he took his life.
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O segundo, Terry Long,
tinha 45 anos quando se matou.
02:26
The medical examiner in Pittsburgh
decided to look at their brains
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O médico legista de Pittsburgh
decidiu analisar o cérebro deles
02:30
and found this disease.
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e descobriu essa doença.
02:31
I wrote a chapter about it,
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Escrevi um capítulo sobre ela,
02:33
and I thought people would make
a big deal out of it.
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e achei que fariam
algo importante com isso.
Mas, surpreendentemente, mesmo
com a confirmação dos primeiros casos,
02:36
But shockingly, even when
the first two cases came in positive,
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02:39
there was never a national
news story about this,
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nunca houve uma história
no noticiário nacional sobre isso,
02:42
what's going on in football
with these cases of CTE.
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o que está havendo no futebol
com esses casos de ETC.
02:45
So the book comes out,
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Então, o livro é lançado,
02:47
not a whole lot is happening,
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não tem muita coisa acontecendo,
02:48
and one day I read the newspaper --
November 20, 2006.
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e, em 20 de novembro
de 2006, leio o jornal.
02:53
I find out that Andre Waters
just took his life.
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Descubro que Andre Waters havia se matado.
02:57
Those of you who know football,
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Para quem conhece futebol americano,
cresci vendo Andre Waters.
02:58
Andre Waters was someone
I grew up watching.
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Ex-jogador do Philadelphia Eagles,
03:00
Former Philadelphia Eagles strong safety,
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44 anos, técnico de futebol
da segunda divisão,
03:02
[44] years old,
a Division II football coach
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03:05
when he decided to put a gun to his head.
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decidiu apontar uma arma para sua cabeça.
03:08
In the article they reminded me,
his nickname was Dirty Waters.
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No artigo, lembraram que
o apelido dele era "Dirty Waters".
03:11
He was known for leading with his head,
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Era conhecido por liderar com a mente.
Então, pensei em pesquisar
03:13
so I thought I'm just going to look up
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03:15
did he ever talk
about the concussions he had.
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se ele já havia falado
sobre as concussões dele.
03:17
And I found a quote from 1994
where Andre Waters said,
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Descobri que, em 1994, Andre Waters disse:
03:20
"I stopped counting my concussions at 15.
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"Parei de contar minhas
concussões aos 15 anos.
03:23
I wouldn't say anything, I'd just sniff
smelling salts and go back out there."
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Eu não dizia nada, só cheirava
sais aromáticos e voltava pra lá".
Eu queria saber se ele
poderia ter ETC também,
03:26
And I thought, I wonder
if he might have CTE, too.
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03:30
If that might have contributed to whatever
made him choose to end his life.
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se isso pode ter contribuído
para ele escolher tirar a própria vida.
03:34
So I ended up calling the doctor
who did the first two studies, and I said,
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Então, acabei ligando para o médico
que fez os primeiros estudos e disse:
"Acho que você deveria
estudar Andre Waters".
03:37
"Hey, I think you should
study Andre Waters."
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03:41
And he said, "I'd be happy to.
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Ele disse: "Ficaria feliz em estudá-lo.
03:44
The problem is, the first two cases
died in the county in which I work,
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O problema é que os primeiros dois casos
morreram no município onde trabalho,
03:47
and I could study them as part of my job.
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e eu poderia estudá-los
como parte da tarefa.
03:49
I can't do that with Andre Waters,
he died in Florida.
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Não posso fazer isso com Andre Waters,
que morreu na Flórida.
03:52
If you want me to study him,
you're going to have to figure out
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Se você quiser que eu o estude,
terá que descobrir como conseguir
o cérebro dele pra mim".
03:55
how to get me the brain."
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03:57
So I said, "OK.
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Eu disse: "Está bem.
04:00
How does one get a brain?"
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Como alguém consegue um cérebro?"
04:03
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
04:05
So I racked my brain
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Quebrei a cabeça
04:07
and I thought, why don't I call
the medical examiner
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e pensei: por que não ligo para
o médico legista que deve ter o cérebro?
04:09
who I think has the brain right now?
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Então, liguei para ele na Flórida e disse:
04:11
So I called up the medical examiner
in Florida, and I said,
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"Ei, você não me conhece, mas ainda
tem o cérebro de Andre Waters?"
04:14
"Hey, you don't know me, but do you still
have the brain of Andre Waters?"
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04:18
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
04:19
And he said, "Yes, I do."
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Ele disse: "Sim, tenho".
04:22
I said, "OK, are you going to
study him for CTE?"
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Falei: "Está bem, você
irá estudá-lo para a ETC?"
04:26
And he said no, in fact at that time
he didn't believe that was a real disease.
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Ele disse que não, que, naquela época,
não acreditava que era uma doença real.
04:30
I said, "OK, if you're not,
do you mind if I have it?"
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Eu disse: "Se você não vai estudá-lo,
importa-se se eu ficar com o cérebro?"
04:34
And he said, "Well, young man,
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Ele disse: "Bem, meu jovem,
04:38
I can't give you the brain.
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não posso lhe dar o cérebro.
04:40
You need his family's permission.
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Precisa da autorização da família.
04:41
But if you do get the permission
of his next of kin,
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Mas, se você conseguir a autorização
do parente mais próximo,
04:45
I will release the brain to you."
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libero o cérebro a você".
04:47
And I said, "Great!"
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Eu disse: "Ótimo!"
04:49
And then I realized I had to figure out
who his next of kin was and ask them,
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Então, percebi que eu precisava descobrir
o parente mais próximo e lhe pedir,
04:53
and it turned out it was
Andre Waters's 88-year-old mother.
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e verificou-se que era a mãe
de 88 anos de Andre Waters.
04:57
And I sat there, and I took
a breath and I thought,
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Sentei lá, respirei fundo e pensei:
05:00
"Am I really going to cold-call
an 88-year-old grieving mother
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"Vou mesmo ligar
a uma mãe de luto, de 88 anos,
05:04
who just lost her son to suicide?"
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que acabou de perder
o filho para o suicídio?"
05:06
And almost everything in me
said, "Don't do it.
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Quase tudo em mim dizia:
"Não faça isso, é demais fazer
essa pobre mãe passar por isso.
05:10
It's too much to put
this poor woman through,
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05:13
she's been through so much already."
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Ela já passou por tanta coisa".
05:15
But then this other voice in my head said,
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Mas, então, essa outra voz
na minha cabeça dizia:
05:17
"You know what?
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"Sabe de uma coisa?
05:19
If guys are killing themselves
from this disease
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Se os caras estão se matando
por causa dessa doença,
05:21
and we could study it to maybe
prevent this from happening in the future,
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e podemos estudá-la para talvez
evitar que isso aconteça no futuro,
05:25
sometimes you've just got to suck it up
and do something that's very hard."
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às vezes, temos apenas que dar um jeito
e fazer algo que é muito difícil".
05:29
So I called her.
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Então, liguei para ela.
05:32
First time, nobody answered.
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Na primeira vez, ninguém atendeu.
05:34
Second time, no one answered,
third... no voice mails.
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Na segunda, ninguém respondeu;
na terceira... sem correio de voz.
05:37
The fifth time, I got an answer.
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Na quinta vez, tive uma resposta.
05:39
And thank God that Andre Waters's family
was so gracious about the call and said,
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Graças a Deus, a família de Andre Water
foi muito amável sobre a ligação e disse:
05:46
"You know what, we want to know
what happened to Andre.
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"Queremos saber o que houve com o Andre
e porque ele mudou tanto
nos cinco últimos anos da vida dele".
05:48
We want to know why he changed so much
in the last five years of his life."
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Então, estudamos o cérebro,
05:52
And so we studied the brain,
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05:55
and it turned out that he did have CTE.
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e revelou-se que ele tinha ETC.
05:59
He became the third NFL player
diagnosed with the disease.
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Ele se tornou o terceiro jogador
da NFL com a doença.
06:02
This is what it looks like.
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É assim que se parece.
06:03
He was somewhere between mild and severe.
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Ele estava em algum lugar
entre moderado e grave.
06:06
OK, we have three
of three NFL players here.
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Está bem, temos três
de três jogadores da NFL aqui.
06:10
Maybe this needs to get
a little bit more serious.
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Talvez isso precise ficar
um pouco mais sério,
06:12
Maybe something's happening here.
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e esteja acontecendo algo aqui.
06:14
So I ended up starting
the Concussion Legacy Foundation,
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Fundei a Concussion Legacy Foundation,
que formalizou o trabalho,
06:17
actually formalized the work,
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para que não se tratasse apenas
de um cara pedindo cérebros.
06:18
so it wasn't just
some guy calling for brains.
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06:20
And I searched the world.
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Pesquisei no mundo.
06:23
And I put together
the best research team I could find.
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Reuni a melhor equipe de pesquisa
que eu poderia encontrar.
06:26
So we partnered with Boston University,
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Fizemos parceria
com a Universidade de Boston,
06:28
we partnered with scientists
at the VA here in Boston,
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com cientistas do sistema
de saúde aqui de Boston,
e iniciamos um banco de cérebros.
06:31
and we started a brain bank.
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06:33
Turns out, if you want to know
how to cure degenerative brain disease,
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Se quisermos saber como curar
uma doença cerebral degenerativa,
06:36
you have to start
by actually studying the brains.
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teremos que começar estudando o cérebro.
Neste momento, fomos o primeiro
centro no mundo focado na ETC.
06:38
At this point, we were the first center
in the world focused on CTE.
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06:43
It just had not been studied formally.
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Só não havia sido estudada formalmente.
06:46
And so we start this brain bank,
and it's my job to get the brains
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Começamos o banco de cérebros,
e meu trabalho é conseguir os cérebros
06:49
for Dr. Ann McKee
and her brain bank, right in the middle.
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para a Dra. Ann McKee e seu banco
de cérebros, bem no meio.
06:52
We also work with Dr. Bob Stern,
Dr. Robert Cantu,
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Também trabalhamos
com o Dr. Bob Stern, o Dr. Robert Cantu,
06:56
truly my dream team
of scientists that I support.
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meu verdadeiro time dos sonhos
de cientistas que eu apoio.
06:58
So my job is to get the brains.
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Meu trabalho é conseguir os cérebros.
07:00
And I was very successful
in those early years.
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Tive muito sucesso nos primeiros anos.
07:03
Since 2007 I've started every day
by reading the obituaries.
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Desde 2007, comecei todos os dias
lendo os obituários.
07:08
And it's a tough way to live.
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É um modo difícil de viver.
07:10
And it's hard on me
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É difícil para mim
07:12
and it's even worse on these
poor families that I've been calling
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e é ainda pior para essas pobres famílias
com as quais tenho entrado em contato
07:16
for the last 10 years,
to ask for their brains.
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nos últimos dez anos
para pedir os cérebros.
07:19
And so early on in the process,
as it started to really eat away at me,
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No início, isso começou
realmente a me incomodar.
07:22
I decided, you know what,
can I find another way
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Decidi: posso encontrar outra maneira
07:25
to get people to donate
their brains to this research?
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de levar as pessoas a doarem
o cérebro para esta pesquisa?
07:28
And I figured out,
what if we could create a culture
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E se pudéssemos criar uma cultura
de doação de cérebros neste país?
07:32
of brain donation in this country?
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E se fosse normal aos atletas
doarem o cérebro após a morte?
07:33
What if it became normal for athletes
to donate their brain after they died?
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Então, iniciei um registro
de doação de cérebros.
07:37
And so what I started
was a brain donation registry.
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07:40
And I started asking athletes
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Comecei perguntando aos atletas
07:43
if they would publicly pledge
to donate their brain to science.
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se eles se comprometeriam publicamente
a doar o cérebro deles para a ciência.
07:47
And it started with, actually,
a hockey player in 2009.
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Tudo começou, na verdade,
com um jogador de hóquei em 2009.
07:50
One of my first pledges
was a former Harvard hockey player,
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Uma de minhas primeiras promessas
foi um ex-jogador de hóquei de Harvard,
07:55
Noah Welch, who was
in the NHL at the time.
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Noah Welch, que estava na NHL na época.
07:57
It was a slow start people understanding
what this was about.
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Demorou para as pessoas
entenderem do que se tratava.
08:00
So when the news hit the front page,
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Quando chegou a manchete
"Noah Welch promete
o cérebro para a ciência",
08:02
"Noah Welch pledging
his brain to science,"
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ele disse que foi ao vestiário
no dia seguinte,
08:04
he said he went
to the locker room the next day,
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um de seus colegas
o puxou de lado e disse:
08:06
one of his teammates
pulled him aside and said,
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"Ouvi que você está doando
o cérebro para a ciência".
08:09
"Hey, I heard you're donating
your brain to science."
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Ele disse: "Sim".
08:11
And he said, "Yep."
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08:12
And he said, "Wow.
How many games are you going to miss?"
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E ele disse: "Uau, quantos jogos
você vai perder?"
08:15
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
08:17
True story.
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História verdadeira.
08:18
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
08:24
But we've been remarkably successful --
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Mas tivemos um sucesso extraordinário.
08:28
over 2,500 athletes have signed up.
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Mais de 2,5 mil atletas se inscreveram.
08:31
They get a brain-donation card
they keep in their wallet.
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Eles recebem um cartão de doação
de cérebro, que guardam na carteira.
08:34
This is mine, I was
obviously first, it says 01.
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Este é o meu, obviamente, o primeiro;
aqui diz: número um.
08:39
And I will donate my brain to this.
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E vou doar meu cérebro para isso.
Tivemos a sorte de ter pessoas como
Brandi Chastain, ícone do futebol feminino
08:41
We've also been lucky
to have people like Brandi Chastain,
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08:43
the women's soccer icon,
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e Dale Earnhardt Jr., da NASCAR.
08:45
NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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Há duas semanas,
Nick Buoniconti, do Hall da Fama,
08:46
Just two weeks ago,
Hall-of-Famer Nick Buoniconti
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08:48
who had been diagnosed with dementia,
signed up to pledge his brain.
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diagnosticado com demência,
se inscreveu para doar o cérebro.
Tem sido maravilhoso,
08:52
So it's been wonderful,
and the great thing about it
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2455
e o importante é que funcionou na mudança
do modo de conseguir os cérebros.
08:54
is that it has worked
in changing how we're able to get brains.
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3737
08:58
So now, instead of me having to call,
more families call us.
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2976
Agora, em vez de eu ter que ligar,
mais famílias ligam para nós.
09:01
And our phones ring off the hook.
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2016
Nossos telefones não param de tocar.
09:03
And so I can now focus
on taking this information,
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Posso me concentrar agora
em conseguir a informação,
09:06
figuring out how do we work
towards a cure,
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descobrir como trabalhamos
para achar a cura e a prevenção.
09:09
how do we work towards prevention,
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09:11
and so my life has gotten a lot easier.
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Assim minha vida ficou muito mais fácil.
09:13
This is just some of the headlines
that we've able to get over the years
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Estas são apenas algumas das manchetes
que conseguimos obter ao longo dos anos
09:17
from athletes pledging their brain.
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de atletas se comprometendo
a doar o cérebro.
09:20
The problem has been what we learned.
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O problema foi o que aprendemos.
09:22
So when we started this,
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Quando começamos, havia no mundo
apenas 45 casos da doença,
09:23
only 45 cases existed
in the world of this disease
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4296
09:27
that had been studied in brain banks.
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estudada em bancos de cérebros.
09:30
Since then, we have acquired 500 brains
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3256
Desde então, adquirimos 500 cérebros
09:33
and found over 300 of them had CTE.
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e descobrimos que
mais de 300 deles tinham ETC.
09:36
To put that in perspective,
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Para colocar em perspectiva,
09:37
the rest of the world has not studied
100 brains since we started this.
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o restante do mundo não estudou
100 cérebros desde que começamos.
09:42
What we've seen though
is very frightening.
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2416
O que temos visto é muito assustador.
09:45
So some of you might have seen
the headline in July
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Alguns de vocês devem ter visto
a manchete de julho do "New York Times"
09:48
in the "New York Times."
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09:49
And a recent study we published,
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e um estudo recente publicado,
09:51
that of the first 111
NFL players we looked at
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segundo o qual, dos primeiros
111 jogadores da NFL que analisamos,
09:54
110 were positive for this disease.
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110 deram positivo para essa doença.
09:57
Of the first 53 college
football players we looked at,
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Dos primeiros 53 jogadores de futebol
universitário que examinamos,
10:01
48 had this disease.
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48 tinham a doença.
10:04
That's something
that's a very big concern to me.
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Essa é uma grande preocupação para mim.
10:07
And so now, I'm very much focused
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Agora estou muito focado
10:09
on what can we do
to actually treat this disease?
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no que podemos fazer
para tratar realmente essa doença.
10:14
We still can't diagnose
CTE in living people,
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Ainda não podemos diagnosticar
a ETC em seres vivos,
10:17
we have no treatments
that are going to be coming
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não temos tratamentos que virão
10:20
out of the pharmaceutical industry
in the next five years.
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da indústria farmacêutica
nos próximos cinco anos.
Esta é uma luta muito extensa.
10:23
This is a long, long fight.
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10:25
But our Concussion Legacy Foundation
is here to not only facilitate this work,
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Mas a Concussion Legacy Foundation
existe não só para facilitar o trabalho,
10:30
and that's the long game,
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e esse é o jogo extenso, mas o jogo breve
é que podemos prevenir isso.
10:31
but the short game is,
hey, we can prevent this.
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2239
10:33
We can prevent this disease
218
621823
1313
Podemos prevenir a doença
10:35
if we just stopped hitting people
in the head so much.
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2576
se pararmos de bater tanto
na cabeça das pessoas.
10:37
And frankly, we need to stop
hitting children in the head.
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2856
Sinceramente, precisamos parar
de bater na cabeça das crianças.
10:40
Turns out, it's not a great idea
to hit a five-year-old in the head
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Não é uma boa ideia
bater na cabeça de uma criança
de 5 anos 500 vezes por ano.
10:43
500 times each year.
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1216
Isso realmente abre as portas
para essa doença.
10:45
And it does actually
open up the door to this disease.
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2736
10:47
And so, we've got
a lot of work ahead of us.
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2760
Temos muito trabalho pela frente.
10:51
But I have great hope that we're
on our way to curing this disease.
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Mas tenho muito esperança de estarmos
a caminho da cura para essa doença.
10:56
But I hope you understand
my story a little more now.
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4696
Espero que agora entendam
um pouco mais a minha história.
11:01
And now that we've gotten
to know each other a little bit better,
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E, agora que nos conhecemos
um pouco melhor,
11:05
this is the time where I ask you,
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é a hora que pergunto a vocês:
11:07
"Can I have your brain?"
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"Posso ficar com seu cérebro?"
11:09
Thank you very much.
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Muito obrigado.
(Aplausos)
11:10
(Applause)
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11:13
Thank you.
232
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Obrigado.
11:14
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
Translated by Maurício Kakuei Tanaka
Reviewed by Maricene Crus

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Chris Nowinski - Social entrepreneur
Dr. Chris Nowinski is leading a global conversation on concussions, CTE and the future of sports.

Why you should listen

Dr. Chris Nowinski is an All-Ivy Harvard football player-turned WWE professional wrestler-turned neuroscientist. He discovered the concussion crisis the hard way: a 2003 kick to the chin in a WWE tag-team match ended his career, causing post-concussion syndrome and sending him on a journey where he uncovered a public health conspiracy that continues to cost lives. 

Nowinski wrote the investigative expose Head Games: Football’s Concussion Crisis in 2006 and soon after founded the non-profit Concussion Legacy Foundation (CLF), where he serves as CEO. He co-founded the world-famous Boston University (BU) CTE Center, where he serves as the outreach, recruitment, education, and public policy leader, as well as the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, where he led recruitment for the 2017 study that found 110 of 111 deceased NFL players had CTE. His journey has been profiled in media outlets like HBO's "Real Sports"ESPN's "Outside the Lines" and the New York Times, and he was the subject of the award-winning documentary Head Games: The Global Concussion Crisis by celebrated director Steve James.

Nowinski earned his doctorate in behavioral neuroscience from Boston University School of Medicine and has authored more than 25 scientific publications. VICE Sports called Nowinski "the man most responsible for making CTE part of the national conversation," and Sports Illustrated said, "It is Nowinski's figure which looms behind the doctors and the headlines and the debate roiling over sports'newfound commitment to minimizing head trauma."

More profile about the speaker
Chris Nowinski | Speaker | TED.com

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