The foundation of the TRACK-TBI NETWORK date back nearly a decade with the launch of the TRACK-TBI Pilot study, which collected clinical data on nearly 600 subjects with TBIs at 3 level 1 trauma centers and a rehabilitation facility. The Pilot study demonstrated the proof of concept of collecting Common Data Elements to better understand the natural history of TBI.

Additionally, its success demonstrated the potential for multi-center TBI observational TBI studies. In 2013, funded by NINDS, TRACK-TBI was launched at 12 level 1 trauma centers across the U.S. Now in its fifth year of operation at 18 sites, the study has enrolled over 3,000 persons with TBI and control subjects. Collection of this rich dataset will improve TBI classification/taxonomy for targeted clinical treatment trials, improve TBI outcome assessments, such that the size and costs of clinical trials can be reduced, has begun to refine the costly health and economic impact of TBI, and has created a legacy database with analytic tools and resources to support TBI research.

TRACK-TBI infrastructure has paved the way for funding of additional add-on studies enabling academic investigators and pharmaceutical companies to plug into the network and spin up sub-studies at a lower cost and higher efficiency than before. Spreading Depolarizations II, UPMC High Definition Fiber Tracking, Abbott i-STAT, TED Friend Control, TRACK-TBI Precision Medicine, and TRACK-TBI LONG are currently enrolling and/or utilizing TRACK-TBI data to achieve the respective aims of their grants.