by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors
February 8, 2026
Former NFL defensive again Robert W. Turner II is main a nationwide effort to carry Black males into conversations about mind well being.
By Robert Hill
As Tremendous Bowl hype places skilled soccer again within the nationwide highlight, former NFL defensive again Robert W. Turner II is main a nationwide effort to carry Black males into conversations about mind well being. The bodily toll of repeated hits to the top and concussions in soccer has more and more been linked to long-term mind accidents and psychological well being challenges, making Turner’s advocacy particularly pressing as the game instructions renewed consideration. The situation mostly related to repeated head accidents in soccer is power traumatic encephalopathy, often known as CTE.
Turner, now a medical sociologist on the Duke College Faculty of Drugs, is the principal investigator of a Nationwide Institutes of Well being–funded research inspecting how repetitive head accidents and life experiences have an effect on getting old, dementia, and neurodegenerative illness in Black males, one of many teams at highest threat however least represented in mind well being analysis.
Black males face a disproportionately increased threat of growing dementia and Alzheimer’s illness; nevertheless, they continue to be underrepresented within the analysis designed to know these situations higher.
Duke College Faculty of Drugs reported that, “In response to the Nationwide Institute on Getting older, the Alzheimer’s Affiliation, and different researchers, Black Individuals are roughly twice as doubtless as white Individuals to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s illness. Researchers say the explanations for this disparity stay unclear, partly as a result of Black people are a lot much less doubtless than white Individuals to take part in Alzheimer’s and dementia analysis research.”
With the assist of further analysis establishments, together with Boston College and the Duke/UNC Alzheimer’s Illness Analysis Heart, Turner is working to shut that hole.
The Nationwide Institutes of Well being–funded research enrolls 200 Black males aged 50 or older, together with former sort out soccer gamers from highschool, faculty, {and professional} ranges, in addition to individuals who’ve by no means performed soccer or different contact sports activities. The analysis entails MRI scans, blood and urine testing, and cognitive assessments to know higher how head accidents and life experiences affect long-term mind well being.
Past analysis, Turner has expanded his efforts to boost consciousness by launching the Black Males’s Mind Well being Analysis Listing to attach Black males with neuroscience research. He additionally based the Black Males’s Mind Well being Convention to foster neighborhood dialogue on getting old and mind well being.
Simply days earlier than the Tremendous Bowl, Turner introduced collectively researchers, athletes, NFL gamers, and neighborhood members at Merritt Faculty for a Black Males’s Mind Well being Convention to spotlight the significance of mind well being and encourage larger participation in analysis.
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