# Heading and Soccer: Understanding Cognitive Risks, Benefits, and the Potential Mediating Role of White Matter

> **NIH NIH R01** · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2024 · $75,318

## Abstract

Project Summary
This proposal for an NINDS Diversity Administrative Supplement is to support Bluyé DeMessie, who is
enrolled in the Einstein MD-PhD program. The supplement application includes a detailed plan for mentoring,
training, and career development, ultimately leading to the achievement of the PhD, with a focus on human
neuroscience in the area of sport-related brain injury. The mentoring and training program is centered on a
supplementee research project, which is highly integrated with the parent R01 project, but explores novel
aspects not addressed by the parent project aims, and in fact not addressed in the scientific field in general.
Specifically, the project will (1) Determine how cerebral blood flow is changed by exposure to repetitive
head impacts in sports (2) Assess how individual personal characteristics modify the relationship of
repetitive head impacts with cognitive dysfunction. An additional key goal of this Supplement Proposal is
for the supplementee to write and submit an F31 pre-doctoral NRSA Fellowship application to support his
continued graduate work, culminating in the MD-PhD. Development of the F31 proposal is highly integrated
into the timeline of the Supplement Proposal training plan.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10987178
- **Project number:** 3R01NS123374-02S1
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Michael Lawrence Lipton
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $75,318
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2024-01-01 → 2025-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10987178

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10987178, Heading and Soccer: Understanding Cognitive Risks, Benefits, and the Potential Mediating Role of White Matter (3R01NS123374-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10987178. Licensed CC0.

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