Dr. Charles Tator – Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto. Neurosurgeon, esteemed author and founder, and Past President of ThinkFirst Foundation – an injury prevention foundation.
Dr. Charles Tator graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at The University of Toronto in 1961. His graduate studies were in Neuropathology (1961 – 1965), receiving his Masters and Ph.D. Degrees from the University of Toronto before entering the Neurosurgery Training program in 1965. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 1969. Dr. Tator joined the Neurosurgical Staff at Sunnybrook Medical Centre in 1969. After serving as Neurosurgeon-in-Chief at Sunnybrook from 1974 - 1984, Dr. Tator moved to The Toronto Western Hospital where he was Neurosurgeon-in-Chief from 1985 -1988. He was appointed Chairman of the Division of Neurosurgery at the University of Toronto for a 10 year term beginning 1989.
He is currently Professor in the Department of Surgery at The University of Toronto. His main clinical interests are in the neurosurgery of spinal diseases and acoustic neuromas. His research laboratory is dedicated to the study of acute spinal injury models.
Dr. Robert Cantu – Chief, Neurosurgery Service, Chairman, Department of Surgery, Director, Service of Sports Medicine Emerson Hospital, Concord, MA. Dr. Cantu is the Medical Director of the National Centre for Catastrophic Sport Injuries Research and author of the first ever “return-to-play” guidelines for sports concussions. He is nationally known for his work with catastrophic head and neck injury, concussion and post concussive syndrome.
Currently he holds the following positions: Adjunct Professor, Exercise and Sport Science, University North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC; Medical Director, National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, Chapel Hill, NC; Clinical Instructor in Paediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine; Neurosurgical Consultant, Boston College Eagles football team; Neurosurgical Consultant, Boston Cannons professional Lacrosse team; Co-Director, Neurologic Sports Injury Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA; and, Co-Chairman, NASCAR Safety Task Force, American College Sports Medicine, Indianapolis, IN.
His work and research have pioneered the diagnosis and treatment of concussion and post-concussive syndrome. Dr. Cantu has authored numerous papers, book chapters and abstracts on a multitude of sport related neurosurgical conditions.
Dr. David Mulder – Head of the Department of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery at McGill; Chairman of the McGill University Department of Surgery; Surgeon-in-Chief of the Montreal General Hospital. Dr. Mulder also serves as Club Physician for the Montreal Canadiens, and President of the NHL Team Physicians Society.
Dr. Mulder was born in Easton, Saskatchewan and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan in 1962. He has been at McGill since 1963 and was the first recipient of the Rocke Robertson Chair in Surgery. Dr. Mulder has been Head of the Department of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery at McGill; Chairman of the McGill University Department of Surgery; Surgeon-in-Chief of the Montreal General Hospital and has won the Award of Merit at the Montreal General Hospital. He has published 217 papers and book chapters including: ‘Educating Tomorrow’s Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons in Canada; An Evolving Process’; ‘The Historical Evaluation of Clinical Research: The Many Roles of an Academic Surgeon’ and ‘The History of Trauma Care from Homer to Telemedicine’.
In 2004, Dr. Mulder was appointed Medical Consultant for the N.H.L. and N.H.L.P.A. for the World Cup of Hockey in Helsinki, Stockholm, Cologne, and Prague. David Mulder was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1997. He is married and has three children and seven grandchildren.
Dr. Mark Lovell – Founding director of the UPMC Center for Sports Medicine Concussion Program. Dr. Lovell also founded the neuropsychological testing programs for the National Football League and co-directed the National Hockey League Neuropsychological assessment program from 1997 through 2007. He currently serves as a consultant to these leagues and also oversees neuropsychological testing for the US Ski Team, Major League Soccer, the Indianapolis Racing League and a number of other national and international organizations.
Dr. Lovell is also a consultant to the Pittsburgh Steelers and Penguins. He has coauthored or edited nine textbooks and has published over 100 scientific articles. Dr. Lovell is the developer of ImPACT.
Dr. Ruben Echemendia – Director of the National Hockey League’s Neuropsychological Testing Program, the consulting clinical neuropsychologist to the US Soccer National Teams, and the founder of the Penn State University Concussion Program. Dr. Echemendia serves as a consultant to numerous recreational, high school, college and professional sports teams.
Dr. Echemendia is currently in private practice after 18 years on the faculty of Penn State University. He is currently President of the National Academy of Neuropsychology, where he is also a fellow, and he is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Division of Neuropsychology). Dr. Echemendia has had extensive clinical and research experience with sport‐related concussions, He has published widely in the area of sports concussion and has presented talks nationally and internationally. His recent book, “Sports Neuropsychology: Assessment and Management of Traumatic Brain Injury” has received international recognition and acclaim.
Dr. Kevin Guskiewicz – Professor in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science and Head of the Sport Concussion Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – recipient of 15 research grants to investigate the long-term effects of sport-related concussions; Dr. Guskiewicz holds a joint appointment in the Department of Orthopaedics, and is a core faculty member for the UNC Injury Prevention Research Centerand the UNC Doctoral Program in Human Movement Science.
Dr. Guskiewicz is the Research Director for the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes. He has published over 50 journal articles and six chapters in athletic training textbooks. Dr. Guskiewicz serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Athletic Training.
Dr. Margot Putukian – Director of Athletic Medicine and Head Team Physician for Princeton University. Dr. Putukian is currently on the Board of Trustees for the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). She is currently on the Sports Science & Safety Committee for US Lacrosse, and is a Team Physician for US Soccer.
Dr. Putukian is a charter member of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, where she served as President 2004‐2005. She serves on the editorial board for both Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, and the Journal of Athletic Training. She is the recipient of the 2007 Dr. David Moyer Team Physician’s award presented by the Eastern Athletic Trainer’s Association.
Dr. Michael Czarnota – Official neuropsychological consultant for the Ontario Hockey League and the Western Hockey League.
Dr. Michael Czarnota also consults for several amateur, high school, university and professional hockey organizations. He has presented at several international meetings on concussions. In addition to his consulting duties, he has a private practice in suburban Detroit where he provides consultation services to severe brain injury, stroke, and orthopaedic rehabilitation facilities. Dr. Czarnota earned his doctoral degree from Wayne State University, and underwent his pre- and post-doctoral training at Henry Ford Hospital, and the University of Michigan Medical Centre respectively.
Mr. Bob McKenzie -Former Editor-in-Chief of The Hockey News, known to most as “The Hockey Insider” on TSN, is making a special appearance by video.
Bob McKenzie, 52, is a journalist who has spent the last 30 years covering hockey in both the print and broadcast worlds. A graduate of Ryerson Polytechnic Institute’s Journalism program, his first job was at The Sault Star in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. From there he worked freelance for a year before becoming Editor-in-Chief of The Hockey News in 1982.
After nine years at THN, he became a hockey columnist for the Toronto Star. He returned to THN for a three-year term before going into broadcasting full time eight years ago. He first started doing broadcast work for The Sports Network (TSN) 20 years ago and is now known as The Hockey Insider on TSN.
Bob is married to his wife of 29 years, Cindy, and has two sons. Mike, 22, is a student-athlete in his junior year who plays NCAA Division 1 hockey at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY. Shawn, 19, is in his first year of Journalism Broadcast at Fanshawe College in London.
Mr. Doug Stacey – Sports physiotherapist and Hockey Canada team therapist for the World Junior Hockey Championship 2008/09.
Doug graduated from the University of Ottawa in 1990. He completed a degree in Physiotherapy from McMaster University in 1994, and has a diploma in Sport Physiotherapy. Doug recently completed a Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology from McMaster University.
Doug has won gold with Canada’s National Women’s Team at the 2006 and 2002 Olympic Winter Games, and the 2001 IIHF World Women’s Championship in Minneapolis, MN. In 2005, he was also a member of Canada’s National Men’s Junior Team that won gold at the IIHF World Junior Championship in Grand Forks, ND. He was a part of the U18 Men’s team that captured Gold at the IIHF World Championships in Yaroslavl, Russia in 2003 and Kazan, Russia in 2008.
Doug presently works for the Fowler Kennedy Sports Medicine Clinic in London, Ontario; Hockey Canada (medical liaison); and as a consultant physiotherapist for the OHL’s London Knights.
Mr. Jason Mihalik – Doctoral candidate in the Interdisciplinary Curriculum in Human Movement Science at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC. He also serves as a course instructor in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science and as a laboratory instructor in the Division of Occupational Therapy. He serves on the editorial board for Athletic Training & Sports Health Care. He has authored or coauthored 19 published scientific articles and is the coauthor of 1 textbook chapter in the area of sports-related concussion. He is a certified athletic trainer in the USA and a certified athletic therapist in Canada.
