VAIL, Colo., April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Steadman Philippon Research Institute (SPRI) and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) announced that the sixth annual Injury Prevention Symposium will be presented as a live webinar for the third consecutive year. As in 2021, the event will be a two-day affair and is set for Wednesday, April 27 and Thursday, April 28. The highly successful series has attracted over 5,000 total participants representing six continents, 36 countries and all 50 United States over the past two events.
“The global pandemic steered us toward a virtual event in both 2020 and 2021,” said Dr. Marc J. Philippon, SPRI chair and managing partner of The Steadman Clinic. “That format opened the symposium into something even bigger and better, as we experienced tremendous growth and interest in the event.
“SPRI and the USOPC are pleased to be able to reach out and collaborate with speakers, panelists and participants from all around the world using this format,” continued Dr. Philippon. “Our third virtual event will introduce some new features and will carry on the success of the past two years.”
The 2022 Injury Prevention Symposium features more than 20 presenters and speakers from around the globe, highlighted by the symposium’s keynote speaker, Evert Verhagen, PhD.
Dr. Verhagen is a renowned human movement scientist and epidemiologist. He holds a University Research Chair as a full professor at the Department of Public and Occupational Health at the Amsterdam UMC and the Amsterdam Movement Science Research Institute. He chairs the department’s “Sports, Lifestyle and Health” research theme, is the director of the Amsterdam Collaboration on Health and Safety in Sports (ACHSS)—one of the 11 recognized IOC research centers—and is co-director of the Amsterdam Institute of Sports Sciences (AISS).
Dr. Verhagen will kick off the Injury Prevention Symposium with his keynote address on April 27 at 9 a.m. MDT.
The sixth annual event will feature panels on concussions, head injuries and the effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). There will also be a segment devoted to injury prevention in the female athlete.
“I am optimistic that continued peer-to-peer discussions around women’s health, mental health, and concussions will help to set elite athletes on a positive trajectory,” said Jonathan Finnoff, USOPC chief medical officer. “When we think about the future of sport and athlete care, these are examples of key areas in which profound impact can be made.”
New to the format this year will be “Fireside Chats” on both days, where panelists discuss the importance of leadership on a sports medicine team and lessons learned from the recent Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022.
One of the most popular segments in each of the last two virtual events—a panel comprised of prominent Olympic and Paralympic athletes discussing their personal journeys and challenges—will again close out the program. Three-time U.S. Olympic alpine ski racer Tommy Ford is confirmed as one of the presenters.
Each day’s agenda is slated to begin at 9 a.m. MT, with Wednesday’s closing remarks set for
3 p.m. and Thursday’s conclusion scheduled for approximately 1:30 p.m.
Interested participants can find registration information and confirmed speakers on the SPRI website. The list will be updated as more join the esteemed group of presenters.
For further information on the virtual Injury Prevention Symposium, contact Lynda Sampson, vice president of external affairs at SPRI (lsampson@sprivail.org).
