UB Psychiatry Professor Receives Top Award for Concussion Research
Barry Willer, PhD
Published February 25, 2013 This content is archived.
Story based on news release by Ellen Goldbaum
Barry S. Willer, PhD, professor of psychiatry, has received the 2012 Research Award from North America’s only professional organization devoted to the field of brain injury.
Willer accepted the award during the North American Brain Injury Society’s annual conference in Miami, where he also gave a keynote address.
Recognized for Contributions to Field of Brain Injury
The annual award honors a researcher for significant contributions to traumatic brain injury research.
Willer’s research focuses on concussions—especially post-concussion syndrome and how to treat it—and the restoration of emotional abilities in people with brain injuries.
He serves as research director of the UBMD Concussion Management Clinic.
NFL Charities Funds Willer’s Research
Recently, NFL Charities named Willer co-principal investigator with John Leddy, MD, on a grant to determine the most objective method of determining when an athlete who has had a concussion can safely return to play.
Willer’s other accomplishments include:
- co-authoring the first return-to-play guidelines after concussion for the International Olympics
- developing a return-to-play test for athletes after concussion
- creating a a computer-based treatment protocol to help people with brain injury who have difficulty regulating emotion