Committee: Sports-Related Concussions in Youth

Committee Membership Information


Project Title:	Sports-Related Concussions in Youth
PIN:	IOM-BCYF-11-03
Major Unit:	Institute of Medicine
Sub Unit:	Board on the Health of Select Populations Board on Children, Youth, and Families
RSO:	Ford, Morgan
Subject/Focus Area:	Behavioral and Social Sciences; Education; Health and Medicine

Committee Membership

Date Posted: 02/13/2013

Dr. Robert Graham - (Chair)
The George Washington University

Robert Graham, M.D., is the national program director of Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q), the cornerstone of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's multi-year, $300 million commitment to improve the quality and equality of health care nationwide. Dr. Graham also holds an appointment as a research professor of Health Policy at George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (GWU). GWU serves as the national program office of the Aligning Forces for Quality program. After receiving his medical degree, Dr. Graham began a distinguished career in health policy administration. He served as administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration in the U.S. Public Health Service, held senior positions with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Health Services and Mental Health Administration and was CEO of the American Academy of Family Physicians. He is currently chair of the board of the Alliance for Health Reform and a member of the Institute of Medicine. He is also a faculty member at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. Dr. Graham has served as a member of the IOM Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine and was on the IOM Membership Committee for Section 8 (Family Medicine, Emergency Medicine, and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation). Dr. Graham has also chaired the IOM Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health Issues (2010-2011) and the Committee on Contributions for the Behavioral and Social Sciences in Reducing and Preventing Teen Motor Vehicle Crashes (2005-2007). He received his medical degree from University of Kansas.

Dr. Frederick P. Rivara - (Vice Chair)
University of Washington School of Medicine

Frederick P. Rivara, M.D., M.P.H., is the Seattle Children’s Guild Endowed Chair in Pediatrics and a professor in pediatrics at the University of Washington. He is also adjunct professor of epidemiology, chief of the Division of General Pediatrics, and vice chair of the Department of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine. He is editor-in-chief of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. His career has been devoted to the study of methods to control injuries. His current interests include examining the cost-effectiveness of trauma care, developing quality of care indicators for the acute care and rehabilitation of injured children, studying the variations in care across the United States, preventing child maltreatment, and the outcome of injuries, especially traumatic brain injuries, to children and adolescents. Dr. Rivara is founding director of the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center in Seattle and served as director from 1987 until 2000 and is founding president of the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention. He has received numerous honors including the Charles C. Shepard Science Award from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Public Health Association, Injury Control and Emergency Health Services Section Distinguished Career Award, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, Section on Injury and Poison Prevention, Physician Achievement Award, and the UW School of Public Health Distinguished Alumni Award. He is also a founding board member of the Washington State Academy of Science. He was one of the editors of World Health Organization’s report, World Report on Child Injury. His contributions to the field of injury control have spanned 30 years. His research interests have included the efficacy and promotion of bicycle helmets, prevention of pedestrian injuries, youth violence, epidemiology of firearm injuries, intimate partner violence, interventions for alcohol abuse in trauma patients and the effectiveness of trauma systems in the care of pediatric and adult trauma patients. Dr. Rivara was elected a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2005. He chaired the IOM Committee on Oral Health Access to Services (2010-2011), and was a member of the IOM Committee on Adolescent Health Care Services and Models of Care for Treatment, Prevention, and Healthy Development (2006-2009). He received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and his MPH from the University of Washington.

Dr. David A. Brent
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

David A. Brent, M.D., is academic chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, and professor of psychiatry, pediatrics, and epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and holds and endowed chair in Suicide Studies. His work has focused on the risk factors, genetics, treatment, and prevention of adolescent suicide and depression. His work has helped to clarify the role of firearms, substance abuse, and mood disorders as risk factors for youth suicide, has demonstrated the familial transmission of suicidal behavior, and has helped shape best practice for the management of adolescent suicidal behavior and depression. He co-founded and now directs Services for Teens at Risk (STAR), a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania-funded program for suicide prevention, education of professionals, and the treatment of at-risk youth and their families. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), served on the IOM Committee on the Pathophysiology and Prevention of Adolescent and Adult Suicide, and currently serves on the Board of Children, Youth, and Families. He received his medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University Medical College and also holds an M.S. Hyg. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health.

Dr. B.J. Casey
Weill Medical College of Cornell University

B.J. Casey, Ph.D., is the Sackler Professor and Director of the Sackler Institute at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. She is a pioneer in novel uses of neuroimaging methodologies to examine behavioral and brain development. Her program of research focuses on attention and affect regulation, particularly their development, disruption and neurobiological basis. She has been examining the normal development of brain circuitry involved in attention and behavioral regulation and how disruptions in these brain systems (prefrontal cortex, basal ganglia and cerebellum) can give rise to a number of developmental disorders. Using a mechanistic approach she has dissociated attentional deficits observed across the disorders of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Tourette Syndrome and Childhood Onset Schizophrenia. Further Dr. Casey and her colleagues have developed marker tasks that appear to tap the integrity of specific parallel basal ganglia thalamocortical circuits implicated across these disorders and to addiction. Most recently Dr. Casey and her colleagues have begun to examine the effects of gene-environment interactions on the development of affect and behavioral regulation and related brain systems. Dr. Casey received her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of South Carolina, Columba. She is currently a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Board on Children, Youth, and Families and the IOM Committee on Assessing Juvenile Justice Reform.

Dr. Tracey M. Covassin
Michigan State University

Tracey Covassin Ph.D., ATC, is an Associate Professor and certified athletic trainer at Michigan State University (MSU) in the Departments of Kinesiology and Intercollegiate Athletics. At MSU, she is the Undergraduate Athletic Trainer Program Director. Her research in sport-related concussion includes sex and age differences in concussion outcomes, neurocognitive impairments, and issues associated with multiple concussions. Dr. Covassin currently directs a multi-site high school and college sport-concussion outreach program in the Mid-Michigan area. Dr. Covassin has over 40 professional publications and 70 professional presentations, and has received funding as a Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator from external sources including the National Operating Committee of Standards for Athletic Equipment, Department of Defense, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She received her Ph.D.in kinesiology from Temple University.

Mr. Joe Doyle
USA Hockey

Joe Doyle is Regional Manager for USA Hockey (Rocky Mountain and Pacific Districts). In this role, he oversees the American Development Model which provides age-appropriate curriculum to hockey associations to help coaches more effectively coach hockey players and allow players to excel at hockey. A graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and inaugural inductee into AFA’s Hockey Hall of Fame, Mr. Doyle was an assistant hockey coach and recruiting coordinator for the Air Force Academy on three different occasions: 1989-90, 1994-1998 and 2002 to 2006.

Dr. Eric J. Huang
University of California, San Francisco

Eric J. Huang, M.D., Ph.D., is a Professor of Pathology and Neuropathology in the Department of Pathology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He is also Director of the UCSF Pediatric Neuropathology Research Lab and staff pathologist at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. Dr. Huang’s research and clinical interests include developmental neurobiology, pediatric neuropathology, and genetic mechanisms and animal models of adult-onset neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's disease, frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He received his medical degree from the National Taiwan University in Taipei and his Ph.D. in molecular biology from Cornell University.

Dr. Arthur C. Maerlender
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Arthur C. Maerlender, Ph.D., is a neuropsychologist and director of Pediatric Neuropsychological Service at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. He is the sports neuropsychologist for Dartmouth Athletics, as well as for youth, high school, college and professional teams. He serves as the Co-Leader, Ivy League Concussion Research Collaboration with the Big Ten Conference and is the principal investigator for the Ivy League study on the The Epidemiology of Concussions in Ivy League Sports. He is on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Brain Injury Specialists for the US Brain Injury Association. He also serves as the chair of the New Hampshire Advisory Council for Sports Concussion, and is a board member of the Brain Injury Association of New Hampshire. His research and publications are in the areas of sports-related concussions and brain injury, developmental disorders and learning disorders. Dr. Maerlender holds a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Notre Dame and completed his post-doctoral residency in neuropsychology at Dartmouth Medical School.

Dr. Susan S. Margulies
University of Pennsylvania

Susan S. Margulies, Ph.D., is the George H. Stephenson Term Chair in Bioengineering and a Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania. Since being recruited to Penn's faculty in 1993, Dr. Margulies has received the prestigious Whitaker Young Investigator Award and National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Awards, and serves on grant review committees for the National Institutes of Health, NSF and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her work on using computational and experimental techniques to determine injury tolerances and mechanisms has appeared in more than 100 publications. Areas of research include traumatic head injury in adults and children, and ventilator-induced lung injury. These studies parallel clinical investigations regarding the treatment and detection of traumatic injury. She has served or is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Physiology, the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, the Journal of Biomechanics, and the Journal of Neurotrauma. Dr. Margulies holds a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Dennis L. Molfese
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Dennis L. Molfese, Ph.D., is Chancellor’s Professor and Director of the Brain Imaging Center and the Developmental Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Dr. Molfese is an internationally recognized expert on the use of brain recording techniques to study the emerging relationships between brain development, language and cognitive processes. His broad research interests include work on such projects as: developmental changes in brain, language and cognitive processes across the lifespan; the identification of risk for concussion in high school and college athletes; prediction of recovery from concussion following injury; predicting subsequent cognitive and linguistic skills from infancy; cognitive functions in and interventions for head injured adults; factors underlying lateralization of language and cognitive functions; phonological and semantic confusions by aphasics. Dr. Molfese has teaching interests in Cognition, development (infancy, child, life span), developmental neuropsychology, electrophysiological research methods, experimental methods, introductory psychology, neurocognition, neurolinguistics, physiological psychology, developmental psycholinguistics, and speech perception. Dr. Molfese served as the Chair of a number of national panels in the U.S.A. on Learning Disabilities. He is co-director of one of 15 national laboratories that make up the National Institutes of Health Reading and Learning Disabilities Research Network. He is the recipient of a number of honors for outstanding research contributions from societies such as Sigma Xi and Phi Kappa Phi and received the Kentucky Psychologist of the Year Award. His research has been continuously funded since 1975 through grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, Department of Education, The National Foundation/March of Dimes, the MacArthur Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation, NATO, and NASA. Dr. Molfese has published some 150 books, journal articles, and book chapters on the relationship between developing brain functions, language and cognitive processes. Dr. Molfese received his Ph.D. in psychology from Penn State University.

Dr. Mayumi L. Prins
University of California, Los Angeles

Mayumi L. Prins, Ph.D., is Associate Professor in Residence and Director of the Education Program at the Brain Injury Research Center in the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her research interests include understanding the changes in brain metabolism that occur after pediatric traumatic brain injury and how alternative fuels can be used as therapeutic options for the young brain after head injury. In addition to this main focus, she is interested in repeat mild head injuries as they apply to both children and young adult athletes. Dr. Prins received a Ph.D. degree in neurobiology from UCLA. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Division of Neurosurgery at UCLA, and a fellowship in anatomy and cell biology at the Medical College of Virginia.

Dr. Neha Raukar
Brown University

Dr. Neha P. Raukar, M.D., M.S., FACEP, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Director of the Division of Sports Medicine at the Brown University Warren Alpert School of Medicine. She has been managing concussions in the Brown university athletes since 2009 and serves on the Ivy League Athletic Medical Association. Dr. Raukar founded and serves as the medical director for The Center for Sports Medicine which oversees the majority of concussions in the state of RI. An advocate for legislation to protect athletes from returning to play before they are ready, Dr. Raukar testified at the state senate hearings to pass a concussion law. Dr. Raukar specializes in the medical management of athletic and musculoskeletal injuries. As an emergency physician with further training in sports medicine, she is uniquely trained to care for the acutely injured athlete. Her relevant research interests include the effects of concussion on the young driver, acute biomarkers to diagnose concussion, as well as the identification of imaging markers to predict concussion recovery. Dr. Raukar received her medical degree from Howard University.

Dr. Nancy R. Temkin
University of Washington

Nancy R. Temkin, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Departments of Neurological Surgery and Biostatistics and an adjunct professor in the Department of Rehabilitation at the University of Washington (UW). She is currently the Principal Investigator for the UW Post Traumatic Stress Disorder/Traumatic Brain Injury Clinical Consortium Study Site for the Department of Defense and the citicoline brain injury treatment trial for neuroprotection as part of the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research Clinical Trials Network. Dr. Temkin has devoted her career as a biostatistician to the study of traumatic brain injury (TBI), its consequences, and potential treatments to ameliorate them. These studies have resulted in extensive experience in study design, data management, clinical trial protocol development and implementation, data quality control and data analyses. Dr. Temkin is a fellow of the American Statistical Association and recipient of Service Award from the American Epilepsy Society. She has been on several TBI expert working groups, scientific advisor boards, and data and safety monitoring boards for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and and the National Institute on Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Dr. Betensky served on the Institute of Medicine Committee on on Gulf War and Health: Brain Injury in Veterans and Long-term Health Outcomes. She received her Ph.D. in statistics from the State University of New York (Buffalo).

Dr. Kasisomayajula Viswanath
Harvard School of Public Health

Kasisomayajula Viswanath, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Society, Human Development, and Health at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), a faculty member with the Center for Community-Based Research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), and director of the Health Communication Core of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC). Dr. Viswanath is the Co-Leader of the Cancer Risk and Disparities Program of the DF/HCC. He is the founding Director of DF/HCC’s Enhancing Communications for Health Outcomes Laboratory. He also chairs the Steering Committee for the Health Communication Concentration at HSPH and teaches health communication courses within this concentration. Dr. Viswanath’s work, drawing from literatures in communication science, social epidemiology, and social and health behavior sciences, focuses on translational communication science to influence public health policy and practice. He particularly focuses on understanding and elucidating the relationship between communication inequalities and disparities in public and individual health in diverse populations and the implications for knowledge translation to influence public health practice and policy. He has published more than 130 papers and chapters in journals and edited volumes, was the Co-Editor of three books and was a section editor of the International Encyclopedia of Communication. Dr. Viswanath received the Outstanding Health Communication Scholar Award (2010), jointly given out by the International Communication Association and the National Communication Association. He is a recipient of the Mayhew Derryberry Award from the American Public Health Association (APHA) for his contribution to health education research and theory (2009). He was elected Fellow of the International Communication Association (2011), the Society for Behavioral Medicine (2008) and the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research (2006). He was the Chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Center for Health Marketing at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2008-2010. He is currently a member of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) of the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Dr. Viswanath received his Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

Dr. Kevin D. Walter
Medical College of Wisconsin

Kevin D. Walter, M.D., FAAP, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and the Department of Pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Board certified in Pediatrics and Sports Medicine, Dr. Walter is currently the Program Director of Pediatric and Adolescent Primary Care Sports Medicine at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and also practices at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin Clinics-Greenway location. He is a co-founder of The Medical College of Wisconsin Sports Concussion Program. Dr. Walter has published articles and given many national presentations on a variety of sports medicine topics. He was a co-author on "Sport-related Concussion in Children and Adolescents" published in Pediatrics in 2010. He a co-editor and author for the book, "Pediatric Handbook of Concussion." Dr. Walter’s clinical interests include sports injuries in the young athlete, concussion, back pain in the adolescent athlete, and throwing injuries in the young athlete. He also has a special interest in injury prevention and sport specialization/the culture of youth sports. He has provided medical coverage for a wide range of events and has been a team physician for several high schools and colleges. Dr. Walter has been a member of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) Sports Medicine Advisory Committee since 2006, where he has helped to create guidelines for the safe participation of Wisconsin’s high school athletes. He was appointed to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Sports Medicine Advisory Committee in 2008. He is also the vice-chair of the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness, and he is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and an active member of the Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness. Dr. Walter attended medical school at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Dr. Joseph L. Wright
Children's National Medical Center

Joseph L. Wright, M.D., M.P.H., is Senior Vice President of the Child Health Advocacy Institute at the Children’s National Medical Center. Dr. Wright provides strategic leadership for the organization’s advocacy mission, public policy positions and community partnership initiatives. Academically, he is a Professor and Vice Chairman in the Department of Pediatrics, as well a Professor of Emergency Medicine and Health Policy at the George Washington University Schools of Medicine and Public Health. Attending faculty in the Division of Emergency Medicine at Children’s National since 1992, Dr. Wright is among the original cohort of board-certified pediatric emergency physicians in the United States, and provides regional leadership within the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems as state medical director for pediatrics. He provides national leadership as principal investigator of the federally-funded Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) National Resource Center. Dr. Wright’s major scholarly interests include emergency medical services for children, injury prevention and the needs of underserved communities, areas in which he has contributed over 70 peer-reviewed articles, reviews and book chapters to the scientific literature. He has received recognition for his advocacy work throughout his career including the Shining Star award from the Los Angeles-based Starlight Foundation, the Fellow Achievement Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in recognition of exceptional contributions in injury prevention, and induction into Delta Omega, the nation’s public health honor society. He has been previously named to advisory bodies within the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science including the Committee on Palliative and End-of-Life Care for Children and Their Families (2001-2003) and the Hospital-based Care Subcommittee of the Committee on the Future of Emergency Care in United States Health Systems (2004-2007). He recently completed an appointed term on the Food and Drug Administration’s Pediatric Advisory Committee, currently serves as an inaugural member of the National Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council within the U.S. Department of Transportation, and is an appointed member of the AAP’s national Committee on Pediatric Emergency Medicine. Dr. Wright regularly delivers invited expert testimony before Congress and state and municipal legislative bodies, has made numerous media appearances and lectures widely to both professional and lay audiences. He received his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and a master of public health from George Washington University.

Dr. Kristy Arbogast
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Kristy Arbogast, Ph.D., is the engineering core director for the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a research associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania. She heads multiple projects on motor vehicle injuries in children as well as diverse topics in pediatric biomechanics. She was a co-investigator on the Partners for Child Passenger Safety project, a 10-year national study on child passenger safety funded by State Farm Insurance. Dr. Arbogast’s current research efforts include the biomechanics of pediatric injury for the development of new safety designs and biofidelic child anthropomorphic dummies. She has given many invited lectures on the biomechanics of unintentional injury to children, both nationally and internationally, and has been recognized by the Society of Automotive Engineers and the Automotive Occupants Restraints Council for her work. She received her Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Committee Membership Roster Comments

The membership of the committee has changed with the resignation of Dr. Stefan Duma on January 25, 2013 and the addition of Dr. Kristy Arbogast on February 13, 2013.