A University of Washington neurosurgeon who co-chairs the NFL's concussion committee did not interfere in the awarding of a $16 million government grant to a league critic, a university panel reported Friday.
The four-person panel, which was drawn from the UW School of Medicine, was charged with investigating allegations that Dr. Richard Ellenbogen was part of an NFL campaign last year to prevent the National Institutes of Health from awarding the grant to a group led by Robert Stern, a researcher at Boston University.
"It is the conclusion of the review committee that Dr. Ellenbogen did not attempt in any improper way to influence the selection or award process ... or otherwise violate any applicable or generally accepted ethical standards," the nine-page report concluded.
Controversy over Ellenbogen's role surfaced last year after the NFL backed out of a signed commitment to fund a seven-year study on the relationship between football and long-term brain disease. The money was to come out of a $30 million "unrestricted gift" the NFL awarded the NIH in 2012.
After Outside the Lines disclosed the NFL's reversal last December, a group of Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives opened an investigation. It concluded that Ellenbogen was one of the NFL's "primary advocates" in what the group described as an "improper" months-long effort to rescind the $16 million Stern award. Ellenbogen has vehemently denied the allegations.
Soon after the Congressional report was issued, Dr. Paul Ramsey, the dean of the UW School of Medicine, appointed a panel to investigate the allegations against Ellenbogen. Ellenbogen said he did not try to pressure the NIH to overturn the grant and instead worked toward a compromise solution that would have obtained additional funding for brain research.
Ellenbogen told the panel he briefly participated in a conference call in which NFL health officials raised objections about Stern's selection; they cited Stern's potential bias and a possible conflict of interest on the NIH review committee evaluating the applications.
Dr. Walter Koroshetz, a senior NIH official, told the congressional investigators that Ellenbogen called him back to reiterate his opposition to the Stern grant and to say that he could not recommend the study to the NFL fund.
But Ellenbogen told the UW panel that, in fact, Koroshetz called him and proposed a compromise in which an additional grant would be funded. Ellenbogen said it "became evident" that the second grant might go to a group that included NFL-affiliated researchers, including him.
An NIH spokesman said the agency had no comment on the UW report.
The UW panel said it attempted to speak with Koroshetz but was told by his assistant that he "stood by the information" contained in the congressional report. The panel interviewed four members of the NFL's Head, Neck and Spine Committee, including Ellenbogen; Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, the league's chief medical officer; and it received statements from five other people, including NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
Since Ellenbogen became co-chairman of the committee, the NFL and affiliated entities have handed out at least $6.5 million for projects connected to Ellenbogen and the UW. The projects include $2.5 million for a new concussion clinic anchored at UW and $2.4 million from Seattle Seahawks owner Paul Allen for a two-year traumatic brain injury study.
On Wednesday, Goodell announced that the NFL intends to spend another $100 million on new research and technology related to concussions. On Thursday, the league applauded a call by House of Representatives Republicans for an independent investigation into the NIH scandal. It remains unclear whether that investigation will occur; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General would undertake the investigation.
"I've spent my entire career as a physician treating kids, athletes and soldiers and working to advance the science and research around concussions and traumatic brain injury," Ellenbogen said in a statement. "I'm grateful my commitment to those issues has been confirmed both by the House Energy & Commerce Committee and the University of Washington."
The NFL said in a statement: "We commend Dr. Paul Ramsey, CEO of UW Medicine, executive vice president for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Washington, for executing a fair and balanced review of the congressional minority staff report."