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Pac-12 partners with SyncThink to further support student-athlete health and well-being

Nov 16, 2017

PALO ALTO, CALIF. -- The Pac-12 Student-Athlete Health and Well-Being Initiative Board announced today that it has approved the Pac-12 Brain Trauma Task Force’s Equipment Grant Proposal under which all member institutions will be eligible to receive SyncThink EYE-SYNC technology. SyncThink is a world-leader in neuro-technology with foundational intellectual property in eye-tracking and the SyncThink EYE-SYNC technology will serve as the Pac-12 Student-Athlete Health and Well-Being Initiative’s comprehensive brain health analytics platform. Additionally, the University of Colorado was selected to be the  Pac-12  Concussion Coordinating Unit to create a Conference-wide foundation of reliable, consistent, and uniform basic-level clinical brain trauma and concussion data among all Pac-12 institutions.

”The Pac-12 Conference, through our Student-Athlete Health and Well-Being Initiative, is committed to taking proactive steps to support the health and well-being of our student-athletes,” said Woodie Dixon, General Counsel and SVP. “We are excited to partner with SyncThink and their leading technologies to further research the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of traumatic head injuries. We are equally excited that the University of Colorado will play a central role in supporting our concussion data needs.”

“This is a momentous day for both the Pac-12 Conference and SyncThink,” said SyncThink founder Dr. Jamshid Ghajar Dr. Ghajar. “The Pac-12 has always been about excellence both on the field and off, including their commitment to providing cutting-edge solutions for their members. The EYE-SYNC platform is the latest example, representing the new frontier of brain health and performance.”

EYE-SYNC technology, an FDA Class II medical device that is an integrated, head-mounted eye-tracking virtual reality system used for recording, viewing and analyzing eye movements in support of identifying visual tracking impairment. As a part of this program, each participating school will receive two EYE-SYNC® devices to capture objective brain health metrics among its member institutions, and to support national research on concussion currently underway within the NCAA.

In recent years, the Pac-12 has invested significantly in numerous health-related initiatives to support student-athletes health by developing a grant program designated for collaborative institututional research, implemented a Conference wide injury registry database, and instituted an injury spotter program at Pac-12 football games.

The NCAA and Department of Defense’s Concussion Assessment and Education (CARE) Consortium are supporting the Pac-12 Brain Trauma Task Force’s efforts by providing funding and establishing the Pac-12 as a CARE-Affiliated Program (“CAP”). The CARE Consortium was jointly created by the NCAA and Department of Defense, and similarly studies frameworks to assess athletes preseason acutely post-injury, and throughout recovery using neurocognitive and behavior testing.

The creation of the Pac-12 Concussion Coordinating Unit (PCCU) was included in the CAP. As the PCCU, Colorado acts as the Conference’s administrative and operations coordinating unit for collecting and storing data, and coordinating the various digital databases, equipment vendors, program, university research offices, and the NCAA to ensure the proper implementation of the program and data collection system.

This is the first year of the CAP/Equipment Program. First equipment deliveries of EYE-SYNC® for review are being made this week and full roll out at the universities will be complete in January.

Joining Stanford University, Iowa State University, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Texas as most recent adopters, University of  Washington, Washington State University, University of Oregon, Oregon State University, University of California, USC, the University of Utah, the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, UCLA, and the University of Colorado will all receive the EYE-SYNC technology and begin data collection on its platform in January 2018. Each of the Universities will be able to integrate the objective assessments into their current baseline screening process, concussion management protocols, and reporting of brain health data.

About the Pac-12 Conference

The Conference has a tradition as the “Conference of Champions,” leading the nation in NCAA Championships in 51 of the last 57 years, with 501 NCAA team titles overall. The Conference comprises 12 leading U.S. universities: The University of Arizona, Arizona State University, the University of California-Berkeley, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Colorado, the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Stanford University, the University of Southern California, the University of Utah, the University of Washington and Washington State University.  For more information on the Conference’s programs, member institutions, and Commissioner Larry Scott, go to www.pac-12.com/conference.

About SyncThink

SyncThink was founded by Dr. Jamshid Ghajar, MD PhD, a Clinical Professor of Neurosurgery, Director of the Stanford Concussion and Brain Performance Center, and President of the Brain Trauma Foundation.

SyncThink develops revolutionary eye-tracking technology products, now in VR headsets, that give medical professionals objective metrics for visual attention. Based on 15 years of research and holding over 10 patents, SyncThink’s first product, EYE-SYNC, is a 60-second, objective sideline assessment that uses eye tracking to evaluate for ocular motor impairments and vestibular balance dysfunction – the two most common and serious components of concussion. FDA-cleared for detecting eye-tracking impairment, EYE-SYNC is used by leading university athletic departments and medical clinics, from Stanford University to Massachusetts General Hospital, EYE-SYNC is transforming brain health assessment, recovery, and monitoring. www.syncthink.com