NIH (like CDC) has an industry slush fund, with NFL its largest donor, allowing NFL veto power over concussion research/ ESPN
“The NFL, which spent years criticizing researchers who warned about the dangers of football-related head trauma, has backed out of one of the most ambitious studies yet on the relationship between football and brain disease, sources familiar with the project told Outside the Lines…
From 2003 to 2009, the NFL published its own research denying that football players get brain damage; much of that research was later discredited. But since then, the NFL has poured tens of millions of dollars into concussion research, allowing the league to maintain a powerful role on an issue that directly threatens its future…
Dr. Walter Koroshetz, director of the NIH’s National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, told Outside the Lines this week that he had asked the FNIH over a period of several months if the NFL would be providing funding for the study but never received a definitive response. He said he attempted to expand the study over the summer to include other researchers — a proposal that might have satisfied the league. But the NIH ultimately decided to fund the study on its own…
The NFL’s $30 million grant — its largest single donation — is administered by the Foundation for the NIH (FNIH), a nonprofit organization that solicits donations for NIH research…
From the Foundation for NIH:
“The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health procures funding and manages alliances with public and private institutions in support of the mission of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the premier medical research agency…
The FNIH was established by Congress in 1990 as a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. The Foundation began its work in 1996 to facilitate groundbreaking research at the NIH and worldwide. As an independent organization, it raises private funds and creates public private partnerships to support the mission of the NIH—making important discoveries that improve health and save lives.”