{"id":4974,"date":"2013-02-18T16:11:30","date_gmt":"2013-02-18T21:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/college.web.unc.edu\/?p=4974"},"modified":"2024-07-02T14:19:36","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T14:19:36","slug":"neurosymposium2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=4974","title":{"rendered":"ESPN analyst and former NFL player to speak at March symposium"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jason Mihalik is co-chair of a March symposium on how to recognize, manage and prevent serious head injuries in high school and college athletes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ESPN analyst and former NFL player Merril Hoge will speak at a March symposium on how to recognize, manage and prevent serious head injuries among high school and college athletes. The event will be held March 8-9 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n

Hoge, who will speak March 9 at 1:45 p.m., played for the Pittsburgh Steelers (1987-1993) and the Chicago Bears (1993-1994) before being forced to retire early due to post-concussion syndrome. At the time of his retirement, Hoge had the longest consecutive playing streak in the NFL.<\/p>\n

The Second Matthew Gfeller Sport-Related Neurotrauma Symposium will bring in top experts from around the country to provide physicians, athletic trainers and therapists, and other health care professionals with the latest information about sports-related neurotraumatic injuries, especially brain injuries, concussions and cervical spine injuries. There will be sessions highlighting management strategies specific for youth sports, family practice facilities and the military, among others.<\/p>\n

The symposium will be held in the Blue Zone at the Loudermilk Center for Excellence at Kenan Football Stadium. To register, visit http:\/\/tbicenter.unc.edu\/MAG_Center\/symposium.html.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fundamental purpose of the Matthew Gfeller Neurotrauma Symposium is to have some of the nation\u2019s neurotrauma experts boil down the latest evidence-based science and present it in a way that is clinically meaningful to the clinicians who are on the front lines of these injuries,\u201d said symposium co-chair Jason Mihalik, assistant professor in the exercise and sport science department in UNC\u2019s College of Arts and Sciences.<\/p>\n

Mihalik also is co-director, along with Kevin Guskiewicz, of the Matthew Gfeller Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury Center at UNC. The research center was named after a Winston-Salem high school athlete who died from a traumatic brain injury in 2008 after suffering a severe helmet-to-helmet collision during a football game. Matthew\u2019s parents, Bob and Lisa Gfeller, will speak March 9 at 8:15 a.m.<\/p>\n

Major presenters and their topics include:<\/p>\n