At seven p.m. MIPA participants will have the opportunity to sit in on an issues seminar about concussions in sports. A three-person panel made up of Joanne C. Gerstner, Dr. David Kaufman and Kari Grandstaff will share their individual experiences with concussions and answer any questions students have.
Gerstner is a sports journalist who has written for the New York Times, USA Today, ESPN, Detroit News, BBC and NPR. Gerstner is currently working with Dr. Jeff Kutcher from the University of Michigan on a book about youth concussions and sports, targeting coaches, athletes and parents. Starting in the fall of 2014 Gerstner will be a faculty member at MSU, teaching sports media and journalism classes and is a former college tennis player. Gerstner attended Oakland University and the Medill School at Northwestern University and also has experience covering events such as the Olympics, Stanley Cup, NBA and NCAA playoff and championship games.
Kauffman serves as the Founding Chair of the Department of Neurology and Ophthalmology at MSU and is the Chair and medical director of the Department of Neurology at Sparrow Health System in Lansing. On top of this, Kauffman is a professor at MSU and has won more than 25 medical school teaching awards. For the past three years Kauffman has served as the MSU football team’s neurologist consult and is a member of the MSU Concussion Research Consortium. He teams up with other physicians, athletic trainers and neuroscientists to diagnose and provide care for students that are suffering sports related concussions.
Grandstaff will be a biomedical engineering student at the Ohio State University and graduated from Novi High School in the spring of 2014. She suffered from such a severe concussion a few years ago that to this day she suffers from migraines and excessive headaches. Grandstaff had to stop playing soccer and running for her school’s cross country team due to her injury.
Upstart staff members will be present at the issues seminar to report on the event.
Deven is at MIPA this week and almost couldn’t attend because of complications from a concussion she suffered in late May. Looking forward to hearing all she has for input after the panel discussion.
We’re glad to hear she was still able to attend the conference despite the concussion in the spring. The panel had lots of great insight and ideas as to how advances can be made in preventing concussions in athletics.
This article was very helful to students who were considering attending the conference because of the descriptive background information you included on the panelists. This way they knew who these people were and why they were speaking.