After writing about new Boston University research linking contact sports with brain damage, I asked Dr. Lauren Smith, interim health commissioner of the state Department of Public Health, whether she had any advice for parents worried about the risks of football and other contact sports.

Smith was instrumental in getting a concussion law passed in the state two years ago that required high school coaches to become more educated about the dangers of concussions and approval from a physician before teenagers with concussions can be sent back to practices and games. (For more on the subject, see MD Mama column on the next page.)