FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ON March 26, 2014

Super Bowl Champion Ben Utecht Receives Public Leadership in Neurology Award

PHILADELPHIA -

The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and the American Brain Foundation have announced that Ben Utecht, former NFL tight end and Super Bowl champion, is the recipient of the 2014 Public Leadership in Neurology Award. Utecht is being recognized for his outstanding commitment to raising awareness for traumatic brain injury. The Public Leadership in Neurology Award honors an individual or group outside of the medical profession. Honorees are known for advancing public understanding and awareness of neurologic disease, being effective advocates for neuroscience research and making significant contributions to improve patient care. Utecht will receive the award during the AAN and American Brain Foundation Awards Luncheon held on Wednesday, April 30, 2014, at the Philadelphia Convention Center as part of the AAN’s Annual Meeting, the world’s largest gathering of neurologists with more than 12,000 attendees. A Super Bowl champion with the Indianapolis Colts, Utecht experienced a career-ending traumatic brain injury (TBI) in 2009 while playing for the Cincinnati Bengals. Utecht is now embarking on a career as a recording artist and motivational speaker, as well as working with the American Brain Foundation to help raise awareness for TBI. "I am incredibly humbled to be honored with the 2014 Public Leadership in Neurology Award and for my name to be placed alongside such an esteemed group of former recipients,” Utecht said. “My life has been impacted by traumatic brain injury and brain disease, challenging me and my family constantly. Brain disease threatens to steal from us what makes us human, and I will fight relentlessly to see that through research we can in fact find the origins of healing through the cures that are waiting to be discovered.” Utecht will be at the American Brain Foundation’s Brain Health Fair in Philadelphia on Saturday, April 26, to talk about his efforts in building TBI awareness. He lives in Minnesota with his wife, Karyn, and their three daughters. Esteemed past recipients of the PLINA award include Michael J. Fox, Julie Andrews and many other celebrities dedicated to helping the world understand the crucial need to support brain research. For more information about traumatic brain injury, visit www.aan.com/patients. To learn more about concussion, please visit www.aan.com/concussion or download the AAN’s new app, Concussion Quick Check, to help coaches and athletic trainers quickly recognize the signs of concussion.

The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 27,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, migraine, multiple sclerosis, brain injury, Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy.

For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit http://www.aan.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube.

The American Brain Foundation, the foundation of the American Academy of Neurology, supports crucial research and education to discover causes, improved treatments, and cures for brain and other nervous system diseases. Learn more at http://www.americanbrainfoundation.org or find the Foundation on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube.