The Research Team

This work is led by someone who understands the population it serves from the inside. Dr. Chris Slininger served in the United States Army from 2004 to 2013, including service overseas during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Between athletics and military service he sustained roughly ten mild traumatic brain injuries, and by the time he left service he was living with significant cognitive decline.

Through the same kind of care this study investigates, he experienced a recovery that did not simply return his brain to its pre-service baseline but carried his cognitive function beyond anything he had known before. It is precisely because he knows how persuasive a personal story can be that he insists this study not rest on one — a single recovery is an anecdote, and anecdotes do not change national policy. The study is designed to let the science lead and the evidence shape the conclusion, whatever it turns out to be.

Co-investigator on the clinical protocol, contributing craniocervical expertise across the pilot and the full randomized trial.

Co-investigator supporting protocol delivery and participant care across the study’s treatment lanes.

Directs research operations — coordinating data systems, imaging pipeline, and two-site execution across every phase.