Physician who studies brains of deceased athletes for signs of CTE to speak at Upstate March 3

McKee will be joined at the symposium by Kevin Pearce, a former professional snowboarder and traumatic brain injury survivor. Pearce was expected to challenge snowboarder Olympic gold medalist Shaun White at the 2010 Olympics, but crashed just prior to the Olympics, suffering a devastating brain injury that kept him hospitalized for four months.

The symposium will hold two identical sessions, from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. and from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the Ninth Floor Auditorium of Weiskotten Hall, 766 Irving Ave.  The symposium is free and open to the public.

CTE is a progressive neurodegenerative disease found in athletes (and others) with a history of repetitive brain trauma. McKee is director of the Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center at Boston University. It is the largest CTE brain bank in the world, focusing on determining methods of diagnosing CTE and its risk factors. McKee regularly makes headlines by discovering CTE in the brain tissue of deceased NFL players.

Since his accident and recovery, Pearce has founded the Love Your Brain Foundation that aims to improve the quality of life for people affected by brain injury.

The symposium is sponsored by numerous Upstate offices, including the Campus Activities Governing Board, Upstate Student Government and the departments of Pathology, Neurosurgery, Physical Medical and Rehabilitation and Emergency Medicine.