Invisible Wounds Foundation

New AP reporting looks at the lasting toll of traumatic brain injury on US troops. Invisible Wounds Foundation Chief Medical Scientist Dr. James Kelly told AP what makes blast exposure different from a blow to the head:

"The blast wave itself can be injurious. It's a different cellular injury. Blast is a different thing than a blunt injury to the head."

A blast doesn't just rattle the brain the way a fall or collision does, it damages tissue through a different mechanism, one doctors are still working to understand. And for any TBI, blast or otherwise, doctors still can't predict who recovers in weeks and who carries symptoms for years.

Nearly 700 service members have been wounded in recent Middle East attacks. Some veterans in the piece went years, even decades, without a diagnosis. A working diagnostic for blast-related TBI would close that gap, which is what the research Invisible Wounds Foundation supports is working toward.

Read the full AP article: https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-traumatic-brain-injuries-troops-ba0137df7504abe6908557afeb2d9ebe

Iran war renews concerns about the lasting toll of traumatic brain injuries to US troops Military officials say the majority of American troops wounded in the Iran war have suffered traumatic brain injuries.

Just six weeks until the 2026 Evening of Honor!

On Sunday, September 13, the Invisible Wounds Foundation gathers at The Morton Arboretum to recognize those who have honorably served, and to commit to the research that will help our warfighters heal from the invisible wounds of war.

An evening of inspiring stories, gratitude, and purpose. We hope you'll be in the room.

Registration and sponsorship details: https://givebutter.com/2026-iwf-eoh

Warfare keeps outpacing brain injury research, and the gap is widening.

More than 600 U.S. troops have been wounded in Iran's drone war, most with traumatic brain injuries. Unlike the roadside bombs of past wars, drone blasts often come from above, leaving the head more exposed than older TBI research accounted for.

"Anatomically the head is much more vulnerable under those circumstances," Dr. James Kelly, Invisible Wounds Foundation's Chief Medical Scientist and founding director of the DoD's National Intrepid Center of Excellence, told Stars & Stripes.

Meanwhile, Pentagon funding for TBI research has dropped more than 75% since 2024, even as the need keeps growing. A reliable diagnostic for blast-related TBI still doesn't exist for living patients. That's the gap we are working to close.

Read the full piece: https://www.stripes.com/theaters/middle_east/2026-07-29/brain-injuries-iran-drones-22397394.html

Iran war brain injuries could outlast US troops’ return to duty Iran’s drone attacks are adding new urgency to research into blast-related brain trauma among U.S. troops.

Twenty-five years ago, following the attacks on September 11th, many answered the call to defend our nation.

On Sunday, September 13, the Invisible Wounds Foundation will gather at The Morton Arboretum for our 2026 Evening of Honor, recognizing 25 years of patriotism and purpose since 9/11.

This will be an evening of inspiring stories, of gratitude for those who have honorably served, and of commitment to the research that will help our warfighters address the invisible wounds of war.

We hope you'll join us. Registration and sponsorship details can be found here: https://givebutter.com/2026-iwf-eoh

Funding for veterans' brain injury research is shrinking just as the need is growing, according to new reporting from John Donnelly at Roll Call.

Pentagon-funded research into TBI and psychological health dropped from $175 million to $40.5 million between FY24 and FY26, a 77% cut, with the FY27 defense bill working through the House holding that funding flat. Meanwhile, new VA data shows a 26% rise in TBI cases among veterans since 2021, over 114,000 additional cases in just four years.

As Invisible Wounds Foundation CEO Shannon Finn Connell, PhD, and DAV (Disabled American Veterans) National Commander Coleman Nee put it in the piece, "Congress must act now to drive research to prevent, diagnose and treat TBI in the military and veteran communities."

Pentagon-funded TBI research has support from both parties in Congress, including Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), and Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA).

The need is growing. The funding isn't keeping pace. That gap is exactly why this work matters right now.

Read the full story: https://rollcall.com/2026/07/20/surge-in-veterans-brain-injuries-shown-in-va-records/

Surge in veterans’ brain injuries shown in VA records The number of former servicemembers enrolled in the Department of Veterans Affairs system who have had traumatic brain injuries spiked considerably in the last four years on record, new data from the department shows. The figures, which were posted on the VA website last week, demonstrate that the n...

New VA data shows a sharp rise in veterans affected by traumatic brain injury, whether through screening, diagnosis, or disability claims, over the past four years.

Some of that is better screening and less stigma. Some of it is real injuries finally being caught, including cases long misdiagnosed as a mental health condition. Either way, there's still no precision diagnostic tool for the full spectrum of TBI, and no FDA-approved treatment specifically for TBI. Invisible Wounds Foundation is working to advance one as quickly as possible.

In response to the increasing numbers, Invisible Wounds Foundation and DAV issued a joint statement today calling on Congress to increase funding for service member and veteran-centered TBI research: "A TBI diagnosis shouldn't be a life sentence."

Read the full statement: https://ow.ly/fPK850Zqg5X

NATO has published new guidelines on mitigating the brain health risks of repetitive blast exposure, and they are candid about how much we still do not know (STO-TR-HFM-338).

Across allied nations, the conclusion is the same. We do not fully understand how repetitive blast exposure injures the brain, or at what thresholds, or why some servicemembers are more susceptible than others. We still lack adequate methods to screen for and detect these injuries in those exposed. NATO's own strategy reflects the scale of the problem: a staged progression toward evidence-based guidelines over a 10-plus-year period.

Our warfighters, veterans, and their families cannot wait a decade, and U.S. funding for military TBI research is being cut.

That is why a targeted research roadmap is urgent, and why the Invisible Wounds Foundation's Military Brain Health Collaborative is focused on building one: funding the most critical research needed to deliver an early and accurate diagnostic, effective treatments, and eventual prevention of the invisible wounds of war.

Follow the work. Sign up for our newsletter: https://www.invisiblewounds.org/

Thank you to reporter John M. Donnelly and Roll Call for today's article, "Defense funding to research troops' brain injuries shrank since 2025," covering the Congressional cuts to military traumatic brain injury research.

As the article reports, Pentagon funding for TBI research fell from $175 million in fiscal 2024 to zero in fiscal 2025, and stands at just $40.5 million today. Traumatic brain injury is the signature wound of modern warfare, sustained by more than half a million servicemembers this century, yet there is still no accurate diagnostic that can detect these injuries and no FDA-approved treatments for them.

As our CEO, Shannon Finn Connell told Roll Call, the cut "essentially shuts down the pipeline of research needed to understand the underlying cause" of these injuries.

The urgency of our warriors' brain health is why the Invisible Wounds Foundation is leading the private sector effort to fund the most critical research. Through our Military Brain Health Collaborative, we are focused on one goal: an early and accurate diagnostic, effective treatments, and eventual prevention of the invisible wounds of war. This simply cannot take another 30 years to resolve.

Read the full article: https://rollcall.com/2026/07/13/defense-funding-to-research-troops-brain-injuries-shrank-since-2025/

Defense funding to research troops’ brain injuries shrank since 2025 Funding for Defense Department medical research into traumatic brain injuries has dropped by more than three-quarters in the last three fiscal years, even as the problem continues to plague U.S. servicemembers. At issue is the Pentagon-funded program to research detection and treatment of TBIs and t...

Military Medicine just published a seminal piece, written by several of the Invisible Wounds Foundation Board of Directors, on the state of military brain injury science. The leading problem is that there is no way to diagnose brain injury associated with repeated exposure to explosive blasts, blunt head impacts, or acceleration/deceleration g-forces. The ability to diagnose these microscopic injuries is the foundational key upon which prevention and therapies can be developed.

This is a no fail mission that impacts our national security readiness as well as our military families' quality of life, and this simply cannot take another 30 years to resolve. The urgency of our warriors' brain health is why the Invisible Wounds Foundation works in partnership with key organizations and stakeholders, including the Warfighter Brain Health Initiative.

The Invisible Wounds Foundation is proud to support the efforts of the authors who lay out a clear review of what we know scientifically, which is suboptimal, and the need for a strategic pathway forward to preserving and protecting our warfighters and veterans' brain health. The Foundation's Military Brain Health Collaborative is focused on one goal: to rapidly advance targeted brain injury research that yields an early and accurate diagnostic, treatments, and eventual prevention of the invisible wounds of war.

Read the full article here: https://academic.oup.com/milmed/advance-article/doi/10.1093/milmed/usag279/8726041

Since 2000, more than 500,000 U.S. service members have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury. That number only reflects reported cases.

Each one came home carrying wounds no one else can see.

Invisible Wounds Foundation exists to accelerate how we diagnose and treat military brain injury among service members and veterans.

This Fourth of July, we honor their service by doing ours.

Learn more at invisiblewounds.org