Making the Invisible Visible: PINK Concussions’ Mission to Change the Conversation About Female Brain Injury
Katherine Snedaker, LCSW is no stranger to concussions, having experienced several of them—including through two car accidents in high school and college—before she became a mom.
However, it wasn’t until her son got a concussion while playing sports that she started to think about playing a role in concussion awareness and advocacy. After the concussion, she couldn’t get him back into school. “He was supposed to be symptom-free, but he wasn’t symptom-free. My internal ‘mama bear’ came out, and I felt like I needed to do something to help prevent and educate around sports-related concussions,” she says. She went on to create the Sports Concussion Awareness and Prevention Program (Sports CAPP) to help educate youth sports organizations about concussion safety.
As she started to get more involved with youth sports concussion awareness, Snedaker noticed another gap: No one was talking about women and concussions. She decided to pivot her efforts, founding PINK Concussions—the first nonprofit organization to focus specifically on female brain injury—in 2012.
Despite being discouraged by some leaders in the field who insisted the causes of brain injury she was focusing on should remain in separate silos, Snedaker was determined to break down these artificial barriers and create a more complete way to support women with brain injuries. “I was told sports, domestic violence, accidents, and military service had nothing to do with each other,” she says. “But the common thread is women. There are significant differences in the way men and women experience brain injury.”
Building a comprehensive support network
Today, PINK Concussions serves as a vital hub for patient education, medical professional training, research trials, and ongoing support for women and girls who have been affected by concussion. The organization maintains 15 Facebook support groups with over 8,500 members, providing 24/7 assistance to women, teen girls, and their caregivers. These online communities have become lifelines for those struggling with the often-isolating effects of brain injury, offering peer support, resource sharing, and a safe space to discuss challenges and victories.
This support network also has expanded to include medical professionals and researchers. Since 2016, PINK Concussions has conducted countless trainings and eleven international medical summits on female brain injury to train civilian and military medical professionals. What makes these summits particularly impactful is their commitment to accessibility, with PINK Concussions providing free or heavily discounted admission for 500+ young researchers. “We want to make sure the next generation of medical professionals understands the importance of sex and gender variables in their studies,” says Snedaker.
Challenging medical understanding through women-specific research
PINK Concussions’ impact is particularly evident in changing how medical professionals and society in general view brain injuries in women. “Women have long been the invisible patients in brain injury,” Snedaker says. “In overall numbers, there are more men than women living with brain injury, but women have been shown in multiple research studies to sustain more concussions at a higher rate than their male counterparts, report a higher and more severe number of symptoms, and have longer recovery periods than males.” Despite these findings, the medical community has historically lacked female-specific guidelines, protocols, or care plans.
One of the key ways PINK Concussions is looking to change that narrative is through the PINK Brain Pledge, an initiative in collaboration with the VA’s National PTSD Brain Bank. The first initiative to recruit female veterans as well as active-duty and civilian women to enroll in research related to traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, the program encourages women to donate their brains for research, helping to address the critical lack of female brain tissue in research banks.
Breaking new ground through partnerships and advocacy
The partnership with Concussion Awareness Now marks a significant milestone for PINK Concussions, representing the first time they’ve been invited to participate in a major national coalition. This collaboration has enabled them to advocate for women and girls at the highest levels, ensuring that gender-specific concerns are represented in broader concussion awareness initiatives.
The organization has also established strong international connections, with branches in Canada and the UK, and has recently expanded its reach through collaborative projects with organizations in New Zealand and Australia.
Looking ahead to 2025 and beyond, Snedaker says the goal is for PINK Concussions to continue to break new ground. In March, she’ll travel to Montreal, Canada to give a keynote at the 15th Biennial World Congress hosted by the International Brain Injury Association—marking the first time this topic of women and brain injury will be featured at such a prominent international forum. Snedaker is also a co-editor for an upcoming Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation topical issue along with Lisa A. Brenner, PhD, representing another significant step forward in advancing research and understanding in this field.
Committed to starting—and changing—the conversation
Through their work, PINK Concussions continues to advocate for a more holistic approach to brain injury treatment. Snedaker recounts a conversation she recently had with a judge on the intersection of intimate partner violence and concussion. “He told me that in his two decades on the bench, it’s never occurred to him to consider the women before him through the lens of brain injury,” she says. “This is what I mean when I say I want to ‘change the conversation.’”
As Snedaker, a licensed clinical social worker herself, points out, “Every person with a brain injury exists within the context of their family, their social environment, and their work environment.” This understanding has led PINK Concussions to push for greater inclusion of social workers in brain injury clinics, recognizing that comprehensive support must extend beyond medical treatment to address the social and emotional challenges faced by survivors.
It’s Snedaker’s persistence that’s helped PINK Concussions grow from a volunteer-led initiative to a globally recognized organization committed to changing how we understand female brain injury. “We’re looking to make these experiences visible and continue to advocate for better research, treatment, and support. Women deserve that.”
To learn more about PINK Concussions, visit pinkconcussions.com.