Dr. Anthony Alessi, a board-certified neurologist, will be the keynote speaker at “The Concussion Conference 3.0: Return to Learn then Return to Play,” which will take place from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 24, at the Center for Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences on the North Haven Campus at Quinnipiac University, 370 Bassett Road, North Haven.
The conference, which is open to the public, is designed primarily for school administrators, athletic directors, coaches and their staffs and clinical and academic staffs, including guidance counselors, nurses, social workers, athletic trainers and teachers.
Conference Organizer Katherine Snedaker, founder, advocate and researcher, PinkConcussions.com,SportsCAPP.com and TheConcussionConference.com said, “To help schools update their policies and use best practices for the 2014-15 school year, the top medical, academic, legal and athletic concussion experts will assemble at Quinnipiac to present this new information to school nurses, athletic directors, athletic trainers and administration.”
Alessi, an associate clinical professor of neurology at the University of Connecticut, will deliver his keynote address “Sports Concussions: What Do We Really Know?” at 8:15 a.m. He will discuss recent sports concussion media hype and sort out the facts, myths and educated guesses by experts in the field. He will cover the current risks of playing sports and the possible long-term effects of playing. He also will help nurses, educators and athletic departments to learn how to base their school concussion policies on scientific data and not unwarranted hype.
Alessi will be among 14 conference speakers who will present on a variety of concussion-related issues, including the 2014 Connecticut Concussion Law, which now affects all K-12 schools in the state. The speakers also will discuss research-based best practices for treating those with concussions, creating an efficient and streamlined school concussion management team, educating parents and players about concussions, and planning for academic adjustments during weeks one through three and beyond.
In addition to Alessi and Snedaker, the conference speakers include: Fred Balsamo, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Athletic Directors; Sarah Bullard, neuropsychologist at Gaylord Center for Concussion Care; James Doran, president of the Connecticut Athletic Trainers’ Association; David Johnson of DKJ Sports Medicine Associates; Dr. Michael Lee, of Concussion Specialists of Connecticut; Suzanne Levasseur, supervisor of health services, Westport Public Schools; Patricia McDonough-Ryan, pediatric neuropsychologist, Concussion Center of Fairfield County; Karissa Niehoff, executive director of theConnecticut Association of Schools, Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference; John Pizzi, director of athletics, Riverdale County School; T.J. Quinn, investigative reporter, ESPN; Paul Slager, attorney, brain injury litigation, Silver, Golub & Teitell LLP; and Dr. David Wang of Elite Sports Management, who also is the team physician at Quinnipiac.
“I am thrilled to have this dream team of top experts to present at this conference to the schools on the latest medical, academic, legal and athletic concussion information,” Snedaker said. “When schools improve how they manage concussions, schools lower their liability risk and to help students heal faster to return to class, friends and sports.”
The Gaylord Center for Concussion Care and Quinnipiac University are conference sponsors.
To register, please visit www.TheConcussionConference.com.