Cole Field House, the storied basketball arena at the University of Maryland, hosted hundreds of games during its half century as home to Terrapins hoops.

Now it will house a state-of-the-art new center dedicated to cutting-edge research into concussions and other sports injuries.

Officials from the University of Maryland, College Park and the University of Maryland, Baltimore unveiled plans on Wednesday for the new Center for Sports Medicine, Health and Human Performance. The center combines research into traumatic brain injury and other maladies with treatment of student athletes and the public.

Officials said that with researchers exploring neuroscience, biomechanics and genomics, Cole Field House will become a national hub for the study and treatment of sports injuries.

College Park biology Professor Elizabeth Quinlan, co-director of the center said, "Bringing the research scientists and the clinical scientists together under one roof is really good news for the patients. The new findings that are coming out of the research can be translated very quickly to the patient."

Quinlan said that the center will serve families from Prince George's County and beyond.

She said, "If you live within a certain radius. your primary care physician might send you down to Cole because we have the best orthopedic clinic and the best neuroimaging."

Dr. Robert Cantu, professor of neurosurgery at Boston University School of Medicine said, it's the latest in a trend of centers that bring together researchers who study injuries with physicians who treat them.

Cantu has advised the National Football League on brain injuries. He said, "You're really in a very unique situation where you're not only providing state-of-the-art care, but you're actually seeing if it's making a difference. That's why these marriages between the clinical end of things and the research university can be so perfect.”

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By Prakriti Neogi