Speakers

Information Coming Soon

Keynote Speakers

Prof Carolyn Emery

Carolyn Emery PT PhD is a physiotherapist and injury epidemiologist. A Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Pediatrics and Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary; she holds a Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Concussion and is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and Royal Society of Canada. Carolyn Chairs the Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre (Canadian International Olympic Committee Research Centre for Prevention of Injury and Protection of Athlete Health). She is a member of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, O’Brien Institute for Public Health, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, and McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health. The focus of Carolyn’s research program is injury and concussion prevention in youth sport, with a focus also on rehabilitation and youth adapted physical activity and parasport; aimed to reduce the public health burden of injuries and their long-term consequences. Carolyn aims to keep kids participating in the sports they love.

Prof Ben Jones

PROF. BEN JONES is a Professor of Sports Science at Leeds Beckett University. He received his full-professorship at the age of 31 yrs. He is also the Sports Science and Medicine Research lead at Premiership Rugby, and Strategic Lead for Performance Science and Research at the Rugby Football League (RFL). Ben holds Visiting Professor positions at University of Cape Town, South Africa and Australian Catholic University, Australia. Ben has published >250 peer-review publications and secured research and consultancy income exceeding £6 million. He leads numerous large-scale international research projects, including numerous injury surveillance, athlete monitoring, and injury prevention programmes of research, which embed novel technology. He is a member of the UK Concussion Network, DCMS Concussion Innovation and Technology Panel, and UK Concussion Prevention Network. He is a member of various RFL board sub-committees and a member of various Rugby Football Union Advisory Groups. Ben was first-author on numerous seminal COVID-19 transmission papers in sport, including the first study in the world to evaluate SARS-CoV-2 transmission between athletes during sport. Ben also leads numerous instrumented mouthguard projects globally, which aim to measure and reduce head acceleration events in sport. Ben has appeared numerous times on main stream media, including BBC breakfast to discuss concussion in sport. In a charitable capacity, Ben has supported Kevin Sinfield OBE challenges for MND, during which the team have raised over £8million.

Invited Speakers

Dr Caroline Bolling

Caroline Bolling is a sports physiotherapist. She worked with elite athletes from diverse Olympic sports, was head therapist of Cirque du Soleil. She completed her PhD at the Amsterdam UMC, with qualitative studies on the experiences of elite athletes and artists about the prevention of sports injuries. Currently, she is a postdoctoral researcher at the Amsterdam Collaboration on Health and Safety in Sports, an IOC Research Center/Amsterdam UMC, working in multiple projects developing practice-driven research targeting sports injury prevention, RTS, complexity and qualitative research.

Dr Kristina Fagher

Dr Kristina Fagher is an Associate Professor in Physiotherapy in the Rehabilitation Medicine Research Group, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Sweden. Her research focus on para athletes´ health as well as general injury prevention and well-being in sports. Clinically she is a Physiotherapist specialised in Sports Medicine and Physical Activity with more than ten years of experience of working with elite para athletes (e.g. at the Paralympic Games 2016 and 2022). She is a member of the Medical Committee of the International Blind Sport Association and The Concussion in Para sport group.

Prof Vincent Gouttebarge

Prof. Vincent Gouttebarge is a former professional footballer who played 14 seasons in France and The Netherlands. He is Extraordinary Professor at the Section Sports Medicine of the University of Pretoria and based at Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine of the Amsterdam University Medical Centers. He is also the Chief Medical Officer at FIFPRO (Football Players Worldwide). Prof. Gouttebarge’s work focusses on a wide range of sports medicine domains being relevant in professional sports (emphasis on football), striving to protect and promote the physical, mental and social health of active and former professional athletes. He is Chair of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Mental Health Working Group, member of the Medical Committee of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), member of the Medical Committee of the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF), member of the Medical Expert Group of the French Professional Football League (LFP), member of the Concussion in Para Sport (CIPS) group, member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Mental Health Working Group and member of the South African Sports Medicine Association (SASMA). Prof. dr. Gouttebarge is also member of the Editorial Board of the South African Journal of Sports Medicine.

Prof Nebojsa Popovic

Prof. Nebojsa Popovic has been pioneering the provision of surgical services as a Senior Orthopaedic Surgeon at Aspetar since the opening of the facility in 2007. Due to his extensive experience in the field of sports surgery, he has been the major driving force behind continuously building and developing Aspetar’s Department of Surgery as an integral part of multidisciplinary sports medicine care from these early days on. He was awarded the title of Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery by Weill Cornell Medical College. In recognition of his achievements and professional integrity, which earned him the unconditional support and respect of all clinical staff, he was appointed as Aspetar Acting Chief Medical Officer in May 2014.

Prof Ross Tucker

Prof Ross Tucker is a sport and exercise scientist who consults for major international organisations. He is also the host of The Science of Sport podcast.

Prof Evert Verhagen

As a full professor at the Amsterdam UMC and the Amsterdam Movement Science Research Institute, Evert Verhagen has dedicated his career to the prevention of sports and physical activity-related injuries. His passion extends beyond academia. As the Editor in Chief of BMJ Open Sports & Exercise Medicine, he shapes the dialogue in the realm of sports research. He also proudly leads the Amsterdam Collaboration on Health and Safety in Sports, serves as a director of the Amsterdam Institute of Sport Sciences, and as the Medical research Advisor at UEFA. These roles allow him to drive excellence and foster innovation in the pursuit of optimal health and safety for athletes. Guiding and inspiring a new generation of researchers is a privilege he holds dear. Through mentoring (inter-)national PhDs and post-docs, he has the opportunity to share his knowledge and expertise, nurturing their talents as they contribute to groundbreaking studies. Together, they have published over 350 peer-reviewed publications, exploring diverse facets of injury prevention, monitoring, cost-effectiveness, and implementation strategies.

Prof Fiona Wilson

Prof Fiona Wilson is a Physiotherapist and a Professor in the School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin. She has over 30 years of experience in clinical physiotherapy, teaching and research. Her research has focused on examination and synthesis of epidemiology and biomechanics to create meaningful prevention and management strategies for injury and pain in sport. Her primary focus has been on athlete back pain, specializing in rowing related back pain. She also focuses on brain health and wellness in sport with a particular focus on current and retired rugby athletes. She was lead physiotherapist for Rowing Ireland for 10 years and is a member of the World Rowing Sports Medicine Commission. Fiona is a Deputy Editor with the BJSM and the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport.

Dr Karen Wonders

Karen Wonders, Ph.D., is the Founder and CEO of Maple Tree Cancer Alliance, and Professor/Program Director of Exercise Physiology at Wright State University. Her passion is to advocate for exercise as part of the national standard of care for cancer. Through her non-profit organization, Maple Tree provides free exercise training to thousands of cancer survivors every month at 65 clinical locations across the US. She also has offices internationally in 16 countries. An avid researcher, Dr. Wonders is committed to evidence-based practice in her facilities, and has a robust research program on exercise and cancer recovery. Dr. Wonders has given numerous professional presentations including a talk at TEDxDayton on Exercising through Cancer Care.

Other International Speakers

Prof Ian Kenny

Prof Ian Kenny is a professor of biomechanics at the University of Limerick. He is Co-Director of the Sport and Human Performance Research Centre (SHPRC) at UL, and co-Principal Investigator for the Irish Rugby Football Union IRIS injury epidemiology project. His group’s rugby research has addressed long term women’s injury trends, tackle height effects, and underage schoolboy injury risk. He teaches biomechanics and functional anatomy. Ian’s research interests are in the areas of: Injury biomechanics; Musculoskeletal modelling and computer simulation of movement; Sport and human performance. Ian has worked closely with public bodies including the World governing body of golf the R&A Rules Ltd where his research on shaft length effects on golf driving performance was translated into the golf rulebook for players and manufacturers. He serves on the editorial board for the journals Frontiers, and Sports Engineering, the Irish Rugby Football Union Research Advisory Committee, and the Scientific Committee for the International Society of Biomechanics in Sports. He has over 150 publications and has been awarded over €3 million in competitive research funding.

Prof Babette Pluim

Prof. Babette Pluim is a Consultant in Sports & Exercise Medicine and the Chief Medical Officer of the KNLTB (Royal Netherlands Lawn Tennis Association). Babette is recognised as an Extraordinary Professor in Sports Medicine at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. She has a PhD on “The Athlete’s Heart” and a Masters in Public Health. Babette serves as a Medical Consultant for the ATP Tour, with a focus on cardiology, infectious diseases and general sports medicine. She is a Medical & Research Consultant for the ITF, and is a member of the ITF Sport Science and Medicine Commission. Since 2021, she has led the evidence-based review of the ITF Wheelchair Tennis Classification Rules and chairs the ITF Classification Science Advisory group with a commitment to advancing the standards of sports medicine and classification in the world of tennis. She held the position of Editor for the British Journal of Sports Medicine from 2008 to 2020 and contributed to the field by serving on the WADA Health, Medical and Research Committee for eight years from 2005 to 2013. She will be the physician for TeamNL at the Paralympic Games in Paris 2024.

American Medical Society for Sports Medicine Global Exchange to South Africa

Dr Emily Sweeney

Emily Sweeney is a pediatric sports medicine physician at Children’s Hospital Colorado and an associate professor at the CU School of Medicine. She did her undergraduate and medical school training at the University of Missouri and a pediatric residency at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. She completed her sports medicine fellowship at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and has been working in pediatric sports medicine in Colorado since 2015. She is the associate program director for the pediatric sports medicine fellowship at Colorado. Her clinical and research areas of focus are spondylolysis and gymnastics injuries. She is a former high level gymnast, coach, and NCAA gymnastics judge who has a passion for making the sport safer. She is a member of AMSSM, ACSM, AAP and USA Gymnastics. In her free time, Emily enjoys CrossFit, hiking, biking, skiing, and spending time with her husband and two small children.

Dr Jakoet Memorial Lecture (sponsored by South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport)

Mr Travis T. Tygart

Travis T. Tygart has been CEO of USADA since 2007, previously serving in legal roles. He’s known for prosecuEng cases for clean athletes and draGing anE-doping protocols. Tygart led major invesEgaEons like OperaEon Raw Deal and the Lance Armstrong case, advocaEng for global anE-doping reforms and the Rodchenkov Act. Recognized internaEonally, he’s influenced anE-doping policy and received awards for his athlete-centric approach. Tygart, a lawyer, holds degrees from UNC Chapel Hill and SMU, and has authored papers on sports law. He serves on several sports boards and has been honored for his leadership in sports integrity.