Future Sports Medicine Professionals Learn from the Best

04/14/2016 

SUNY Cortland’s aspiring athletic trainers, exercise scientists and medical professionals will learn from some of the best minds in their respective fields at the College’s Sports Medicine Symposium on Friday, April 22.

The one-day conference will dive into current topics and medical issues that today’s athletes face such as concussions, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears and other common injuries. The event features four expert presentations and includes a keynote talk by Dr. Jocelyn Wittstein, an accomplished orthopedic surgeon who specializes in sport-related injuries.

“This symposium offers a unique experience that considers various current aspects of sports medicine for both professionals and students,” said Phil Buckenmeyer, associate professor and chair of the College’s Kinesiology Department. “We are most thankful to Dr. Bert Mandelbaum for his endowment that makes all of this possible.”

The event takes place from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and offers a discounted $10 registration fee in advance for students. Wittstein’s 1 p.m. keynote talk on ACL tears and shoulder and elbow injuries in the throwing athlete is free and open to the public.

The 2016 symposium’s highlights will include:

• “Simplifying Complex Concepts of the Shoulder from a Clinical and Performance Perspective,” a talk by B.J. Baker ’86, a graduate of the College’s athletic training program and the head athletic trainer at Pure Performance Training in Needham, Mass. Baker will discuss shoulder injuries and proper rehabilitation techniques.
• “Current Concepts and Controversies in Concussion Management,” presented by Brian Rieger, chief psychologist, assistant professor and director of SUNY Upstate Concussion Center. He will discuss concussion management as well as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive disease of the brain caused by head trauma and found in athletes.
• “When the Ball Meets the Eye: Ocular Trauma in Sports” will consider the assessment and treatment of common competition-related eye injuries. Dr. Brian Sirgany, an optometrist and owner of Sirgany Eye Care in Cortland, will speak.
• Wittstein’s keynote talk will address different ACL reconstruction techniques, the outcomes of ACL reconstruction and important considerations for throwing athletes with shoulder and elbow injuries. She currently serves as the attending orthopedic surgeon at Bassett Healthcare Network in Cooperstown, N.Y., as well as director of research at Bassett Shoulder and Sports Medicine Research Institute, director of orthopedic education at Columbia-Bassett Medical School and assistant professor at Columbia University Medical Center.

Support for SUNY Cortland’s Sports Medicine Symposium is provided by the College’s Athletic Training Program, its Kinesiology Department, the Dr. Bert R. Mandelbaum ’75 Sports Medicine Lecture Grant and a Campus Artist and Lecture Series Grant. A medical officer with U.S. Soccer and former team physician for the U.S. World Cup team, Mandelbaum went on to become a renowned orthopedic surgeon after graduating from SUNY Cortland.

For more information, contact Buckenmeyer.