Oby: From the campus of Harvard Medical School, this is ThinkResearch, a podcast devoted to the stories behind clinical research. I'm Oby, your host. ThinkResearch is brought to you by Harvard Catalyst, Harvard University's Clinical and Translational Science Center, and by NCATS, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.

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On the last episode of ThinkResearch, we re-aired doctor Alicia Wittington's episode about how her career was sparked by growing up with two NFL football players as brothers. Join us again as Dr. Wittington updates us on the Football Players' Health Study, the Super Bowl, and the Harvard Medical School Media, Medicine, and Health Program. Enjoy the update.

Alicia Wittington: Hello. Thank you so much for having me back on the podcast. My name is Alicia Wittington, and I am going on almost 8 and 1/2 years as a scientist and assistant director of engagement and health equity research with the Football Players' Health Study at Harvard, and also co-founder of another research initiative. We call it FEMFL, which stands for Family Experiences Managing Football Lives.

So the Football Players' Health Study is still the largest study of living former NFL players. And to date, we have had over 4,600 former NFL players participate in our study. What is so amazing is that this work continues and in such a beautiful way. And it's really come full circle for me as recently as Super Bowl week.

Super Bowl this year was held in New Orleans, Louisiana. And for the first time, the Football Players' Health Study hosted an event. We co-hosted this event with Tulane, my alma mater. I graduated from Tulane in 2013, and I remember the fall of 2010. I was in my last semester of coursework for my PhD program in health systems management.

And I was on crutches because I'd broken my foot on my way to class. I was taking five classes and working essentially three jobs. And so breaking your foot is never convenient, but especially not in those moments. However, what I didn't realize was that I was being taken in a direction that I didn't know I was going.

My doctor that was actually treating me for my broken foot ended up becoming my dissertation advisor. What ended up happening, there was an event in New Orleans, where I attended. And it was the NFL's community huddle on mental health awareness. And I figured I'd go because it sounded interesting.

I come from a family of athletes. Three of my brothers played college football. Two went on to play in the NFL. And I said, you know? I should probably go and learn what's going on. And so when I got there and I looked at the program. I noticed that my doctor was on the panel. And I looked at all of the other panelists. And I was like, wow, I have either a personal or professional connection to all of them.

One of my professors at Tulane also attended the event. He introduced me to some incredible leaders in healthcare that were in the room. And the following day, we were on campus. And my professor came over to me and he said, Alicia, I need to talk to you. At first I just thought, well, am I in trouble for anything? Then I thought about it. I was like, nah.

So anyway, after the meeting, we started talking. We were in the auditorium at Tulane. And in that moment, my professor, Dr. Culbertson, told me that I needed to consider that area of research for my dissertation. And I wasn't even planning on doing anything related to sports.

And in that moment, he had to convince me. Because I said, no, absolutely not. That's not what I'm planning to do. And he really encouraged me. He said, no, Alicia, you can do this. I wasn't totally convinced. But I said, you know what? OK, fine. But if I do this, will you be my committee chair? And he says, sure, absolutely.

What was so beautiful about being back in New Orleans this year during Super Bowl week is that we held-- we, meaning the Football Players' Health Study-- held our event in that same auditorium where, almost 15 years ago, my academic advisor convinced me that this is what I needed to be doing.

I had no clue, 15 years ago, that he was helping me to discover my purpose, to discover why I was put on Earth. Before I graduated, that's when the announcement for the Football Players' Health Study hit the news. When I read about the plans for the study and his plans for collaborating with the community, I said, you know, I don't know about moving back to Boston. But this is how you do this. This is where I want to work.

And so to be here now for almost nine years-- it's been about 8 and 1/2-- and to see where the work has gone and where it continues to go has just been incredible. Since we last spoke, what's been truly an exciting development is that I enrolled in the media, medicine, and health program at Harvard Medical School.

A lot of my friends were like, wow, what's this program about? The way that I light up when talking about it just even more so affirms that this was the most amazing thing to do. So this program essentially blends the arts and health using evidence-based storytelling to make an impact on health.

I am the inaugural part-time student in this program. And I can absolutely say that it's been one of the best decisions I've ever made. And what has been so fun is the creative side, and to really tap back into writing, and thinking about family history, and the conversations, and what inspired me to go on this journey to becoming a scientist in health equity research. And also doing this really exciting work with the Football Players' Health Study.

I've always wanted to take some time to write about the impact of learning about your family history, how it inspires you, and then what can come from it. And so what I'm working on for my capstone, because I graduate this May of 2025-- and I've been reflecting about this a lot, what it means to be the first part-time student.

And while that is a lovely accomplishment, I hope it inspires others who are working full-time and still have the desire to do creative things, or to write, or to take what they're doing in their careers and do something even more meaningful than may touch a broader audience. I just hope it truly inspires them, because it can be done.

Yes, I am in the first generation in my family to go to college and beyond. And that's been just a remarkable journey that I could have never imagined when I was a little girl in Saint Louis, Missouri. And I'm so thankful to come from a family that has always nurtured what they saw as my gifts and what I saw as my gifts, or the things that I liked.

So in addition to being a scientist, I am a musician. I ended up studying the violin. That took me to so many amazing places. And what I love about being in Boston is that there are so many opportunities to tap back into that. Recently, I had the opportunity to watch Midori in concert here in Boston, and it took me back to 30 years ago when I was in high school and I saw her perform.

My mom took me to the St. Louis Symphony, and it was just such a wonderful, wonderful core memory. Because I just remember watching her and her technique, and how she really took the audience on a journey through music. And she wasn't saying a word. But you could tell that this was her calling, her purpose.

And I remember watching her and just thinking, wow, that must be really cool to know what you've been put on Earth to do. And then 30 years later, for me to be a scientist in Boston, doing what I was born to do. And then to see her in concert again, it was such a moment for me.

And the difference about this concert is that it was just her and the pianist. Whereas in St. Louis 30 years ago, she was being accompanied, so to speak, by the St. Louis symphony. And to see her up close in a smaller venue, and seeing that she still enjoys her purpose was just something really special.

And I like to encourage those who are walking in their purpose to keep going. Because you just never know who is inspired, even if they're doing something different. And taking that back to the Football Players' Health Study, we've had the opportunity to continue collaborating with the community, learning more about what we should be doing as scientists.

We have continued to publish different studies. We've also been able to respond to the community's needs. One thing that we heard a lot about was, OK, so in a life after the NFL, how does a former player navigate the healthcare system when this is the first time they're doing it on their own?

And we created what's called the Health Checklist. That's our shortened name for it. It's a guide. Actually, anyone can use it, and it's publicly available on our website. It's a guide to enhance the conversation between the NFL players and their healthcare providers. Simply put, it just gives some guidelines on things to think about when you're scheduling a doctor's visit. And then, if you have questions about any particular health issue, like, here are some things you may want to ask about.

As a follow-up to that, we're very interested in the impact of our work on the community, whether or not by returning results on the health of this large cohort of former NFL players, and then also creating a resource like the checklist, are these things leading to changed health behaviors? Or are they leading to more productive conversations with healthcare providers? Are they advancing health equity?

Health equity is achieved when everyone has the opportunity to achieve optimal health. And for many reasons, there may be barriers that will get in the way of one's ability to achieve optimal health. I hope that we are able to learn a little bit more about the impact of our work, and how we can improve, and how this work is improving the quality of life of former players and families.

Also with FEMFL, things are moving along really nicely. We've had opportunities to be published in The Playbook, which is a guide for the NFL community. It's published once a year, and we've appeared in a number of volumes, in this year's volume. And it's the Her issue, highlighting the accomplishments and contributions of women in the NFL world.

It was really special for FEMFL to have a two-page feature. It gives a little glimpse of how far the study has come and what we're hoping to do. And we hope to return some of those results as soon as they are published. They have to undergo peer review before they're published. Then we share the results with the community.

What I love about this work is that, yes, it takes years to get to this space, to learn the skill set, and to learn how to conduct research. But then, when you get to that point of becoming a scientist, the learning does not stop. It's so much more meaningful when you really take the time to understand the community.

In both the Football Players' Health Study and FEMFL, we utilize the framework of community-based participatory research. And this has been a real treat for us simply because we're scientists. And we're across multiple disciplines and institutions. While we know how to conduct research, the community where you're conducting the research has the expertise of their lived experience and what is important moving forward in terms of informing everyone about the state of the health of the community.

What I love about CBPR, which is what we call it for short, is that with every step of the way, the community is centered. They have helped us to design the survey instruments, even shown us how to interact with the community. And then, as we move along in the research process, like when we talk about, OK, how do we share this information with the community? They are also at the table and helping us with that.

And we have advisory boards to the study that represent a broad range of experiences. And we learned something from each person on there. And about CBPR, as well, there is this notion, nothing about you without you. And it just-- it deeply enriches the experience. And I'm really thankful for it.

For me, it's a special path. Because I am the sister of athletes. And so my lived experience of having been 14 years old when my older brother made it to an NFL roster-- gosh, I remember when he had his first training camp, his first game, and all those things. And we were just so excited just really supporting him throughout something that he wanted to do throughout his career.

And I didn't know at the time that it would be teaching me something that I be able to apply to my own career. Of course, it inspired me to work harder in school and to really think about the impact that I could leave on the world. But I had no idea while cheering on my brother and the other brothers, when they started playing football, that it would lead to this place.

I think back to when I was a doctoral student. And I had no clue about some of the details in football. And I would call my brothers and ask about just different things, whether it was, OK, so what are the functions of a defensive lineman? And they would give me answers that I felt were very scientific.

Like, it's pretty cool when you can learn from your own siblings that you grew up in the same household with. And then they contribute to your career, as well. So it's just it's so cool. It's a reminder that I didn't get here alone, and that I have a community that has supported me, a family that has supported me.

And now I'm in the Harvard community, which has been very supportive of this work. And then continuing to be a part of the NFL family community.

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Oby: Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate us on iTunes, and help us spread the word about the amazing research taking place across the Harvard community and beyond. We are always looking to connect and collaborate with the research community and would like to hear from you. Please feel free to email us at onlineeducation.catalyst.harvard.edu to inquire about being a guest on the podcast.

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