NFL and GE team up to take on concussions



MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- The National Football League and GE Healthcare are embarking on an ambitious undertaking, but they are up for the challenge: come up with an innovative way to speed up diagnosis and treatment for concussions in just four years.

In doing so, they are also putting their money where their hopes are. It is a $40 million collaboration between GE and the NFL. The NCAA, U.S. Department of Defense and a team of medical professionals are also a part of the venture.

Many have seen the paralyzing effects of hard hits on the football field and on the combat field. Sometimes the true effects are not known until long after the injury occurred.

"Do we have an idea of where we need to go? Yes, because we have great partnerships in the medical field," says Baldev Ahluwalia, premium segment manager of GE Healthcare's M-R Division. "But exactly what the solution is going to be, that's the journey that we're going to take and be very aggressive in moving towards."

GE is a leader in magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, which is a continuously advancing diagnostic imaging technology. It can see any part of the anatomy in great detail, but the partnership aims to kick it up a notch.

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