Helping Chicago veterans through better focus on brain injury research

Chicago is an emerging center for advancing treatments for traumatic brain injuries among U.S. service members, a condition so prevalent that it is considered the signature injury of the war on terror over the last 25 years.

Researchers at Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Rush University, Loyola University Chicago and Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, alongside several other institutions around the nation, have been hard at work focusing on a spectrum of brain injuries that impact an estimated 500,000-plus U.S. veterans.

But as a new RAND Corp. study underscores, research on brain injuries impacting military personnel suffers from “critical gaps” and requires better coordination if it is to help veterans facing a range of debilitating conditions.

“Despite its prevalence and the significant investments in research, efforts remain fragmented, which hinders collaboration and the translation of findings into practice,” the report found.

Nowhere is the impact of that fragmentation felt more keenly than in the dearth of diagnostic tools and approved treatments. This despite $2.1 billion in private and government funds spent on military TBI research between 2015 and 2025.

Traumatic brain injuries are a major health problem for veterans. They can cause headaches, blurred vision, sleeplessness, irritability, anxiety, depression and much worse. The VA has reported a strong link between multiple brain injuries and suicidal thoughts.

In at least partial explanation for the research fragmentation is that military TBI is an umbrella term that includes a range of injuries, from projectiles penetrating the skull in warfare, to acute concussions and to what is known as blast overpressure waves caused by weapons fire or explosions traveling faster than the speed of sound.

Chicago and Illinois have a lot at stake in the research push to better understand, diagnose and treat military brain injuries. The state has one of the highest populations of veterans, with 552,775 vets as of 2023, according to the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics. The tally includes approximately 82,000 veterans who served after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

What’s more, the suicide rate among veterans in the state (28.2 suicides per 100,000 people) is significantly higher than the suicide rate for civilians in the state (15.1 suicides per 100,000 people). But for younger veterans in Illinois who served during the post-Sept. 11 era, ages 35-54 years, the suicide rate is a shocking 47.1 suicides per 100,000 compared with 16.2 suicides per 100,000 people for others in the same age range in the state, according to VA data.

The RAND study, which was funded by the Chicago-based Invisible Wounds Foundation, suggests ways to better deploy research investment that our local research centers should take to heart:

• The nation must invest in larger scale studies of service members over time and studies “that explore the underlying mechanisms of blast injury to the brain.”

• Research to date is lacking in certain types of brain injuries typical for military members and their interplay with other conditions. “Subconcussive and penetrating injuries, though potentially life altering, remain underrepresented in the literature, as do comorbidities, such as substance abuse, and other secondary effects from TBI that shape quality of life,” RAND found.

• Research since 2015 “has disproportionately focused on active-duty soldiers and veterans; fewer studies have focused on Special Operations Forces, airmen, sailors and members of the National Guard or reserve, even though these groups face high risks,” it said.

Founded three years ago, the foundation, which I lead, got involved exactly because of the lack of focus. It has assembled a coalition of top medical and science professionals, prominent research institutions, governmental agencies and philanthropic partners. The group’s mission is to accelerate the understanding of these devastating injuries, leading to effective treatments and preventive measures.

The new RAND report, says Dr. James Kelly, one of the nation’s leading brain injury experts and the foundation’s chief medical scientist, “serves as an up-to-date base upon which to build a framework for future research intended to advance the science of traumatic brain injury.”

We aim to provide that framework because the lives of so many thousands of veterans in Illinois and around the nation are at stake.

• Shannon Finn Connell, Ph.D., is CEO of the Invisible Wounds Foundation, based in Chicago.