HITIQ establishes Scientific and Medical Advisory Council
We're thrilled to announce that HITIQ has established a global Scientific and Medical Advisory Council (SMAC), bringing together six of the most highly accomplished and brightest minds in the field of concussion.
The council members will provide scientific and clinical guidance to bolster both client outcomes and corporate capability, as we continue to commercialise our end-to-end concussion management technology platform.
SMAC will be led by Honorary Associate Professor Andrew Gardner, with representation from two members based in Australia, three in the USA, and one in Canada.
SMAC will consist of:
- Honorary Associate Professor Andrew Gardner 🇦🇺
- Emeritus Professor Jeffrey V. Rosenfeld AC OBE 🇦🇺
- Professor Carolyn Emery 🇨🇦
- Dr Robby Sikka 🇺🇸
- Assistant Professor Doug Terry 🇺🇸
- Dr Joshua Goldman 🇺🇸
"This is a significant step forward for the scientific and medical focus of HITIQ. It is exciting to welcome such a broad range of expertise on to the Council. I am really looking forward to working closely with each member individually and collectively to progress a number of important planned initiatives over the next 12 months and beyond."
HONORARY ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ANDREW GARDNER
Below you can find detailed backgrounds and experiences of our inaugural SMAC members.
Honorary Associate Professor Andrew Gardner (University of Newcastle, Australia)
Research Fellow, School of Medicine and Public Health, College of Health, Medicine, and Wellbeing, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan; Clinical Neuropsychologist, Hunter New England Local Health District, Newcastle.
A/Prof Gardner is a clinical neuropsychologist with a strong interest in sports concussion. He is a Co-Director of the Hunter New England Local Health District (HNE LHD)'s Sport Concussion Clinic and serves as a member of the World Rugby Concussion working group, the AFL Concussion Scientific committee, and is the concussion consultant to Rugby Australia.
A/Prof Gardner completed a Doctor of Psychology (Clinical Neuropsychology) degree at Macquarie University, Sydney, where he conducted research examining the acute and cumulative neuropsychological consequences of sports concussion in semi-professional rugby union players.
Following this A/Prof Gardner completed his PhD in the School of Medicine and Public Health, at the University of Newcastle, studying brain ageing in former elite level collision sport athletes.
His research has led to seventy-two peer reviewed publications and his research programs aim to advance knowledge and improve health care by generating evidence-informed data to advance policy development.
Emeritus Professor Jeffrey V. Rosenfeld AC OBE (Monash University, Australia)
Senior Neurosurgeon, Department of Neurosurgery, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne; Emeritus Professor of Surgery, Monash University, Melbourne; and Adjunct Professor in Surgery, F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of The Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Professor Rosenfeld is an internationally recognised neurosurgeon. He was the Inaugural Director of the Monash Institute of Medical Engineering. He is a former Surgeon General of the Australian Defence Force and a retired Major General, having served since 1984. His research has focused on traumatic brain injury (TBI), bionic vision, and medical engineering.
He is best known for devising an operation to remove hypothalamic haematomas in children, developing a bionic vision brain computer interface with the Professor Arthur Lowery and the electrical engineers at Monash University, and investigating new pathways of treatment for the full spectrum of patients with traumatic brain injury (including concussion in footballers).
He has published over 330 peer reviewed articles, fifty-eight book chapters and three books and has been awarded over $77.8 million of competitive grant funding.
Dr Robby Sikka (COVID Sports and Society Workgroup)
Founder and Chair of the COVID Sports and Society Workgroup; CEO of Sports Medicine Analytics Research Team (SMART); Senior Principal Consultant at Tonal.
Dr Robby Sikka is an innovator in technology, healthcare, sports and analytics. He is the Founder and Chair of the COVID Sports and Society Workgroup. This group brought together all professional sports leagues, the White House, CDC, FDA, leading technology companies, and the top labs and scientists in the country, to help develop ‘SalivaDirect’, the first EUA open-source platform ever created.
Also, Dr Sikka is a Senior Principal Consultant at Tonal, developing innovative healthcare solutions for the company developing its healthcare product line. Additionally, Dr Sikka oversees the integration of medicine, technology, nutrition, player development, analytics, and strength and conditioning with the goal of improving performance and player wellness for the Denver Broncos. His creative methods seek to help players improve performance, reduce injury risk, and optimize return to play strategies.
In addition to his role with Tonal and the Denver Broncos, Dr. Sikka is the founder and CEO of Sports Medicine Analytics Research Team (SMART), an organization that has continued to assist numerous NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL clubs with injury data, return to play planning, and player evaluation and development.
He previously served as the Vice President of Basketball Operations and Player Wellness, and the Vice President of Basketball Performance and Technology for the Minnesota Timberwolves. He also served as a consultant to the Minnesota Vikings for 5 seasons, the Washington Wizards for 3 seasons. as well as the NBA Sports Science Committee.
From 2014-2019, Dr Sikka was regional medical director for Anaesthesia Management Solutions, serving the Midwest / Southwest U.S. region. He previously served as the Associate Director of Data Analytics for Mayo
Clinic Sports and lead clinical research scientist for Tria Orthopaedic Center.
Dr Sikka has published more than 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts, many on return to play after injury, and his research has been presented at dozens of national and international sports analytics and sports medicine meetings, and his work has been featured on CNN, ESPN, CNBC, Forbes, and Sports Illustrated, among others.
Professor Carolyn Emery (University of Calgary, Canada)
Professor, Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary; Canadian Institutes of Health Research Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) Concussion; Chair, Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre, University of Calgary; Chair, Paediatric Rehabilitation Research, University of Calgary, Canada.
Professor Carolyn Emery is a physiotherapist and epidemiologist. She completed her BSc in Physiotherapy at Queens University in 1988 and after several years of practice in paediatric rehabilitation and sport medicine, Carolyn completed her MSc in Epidemiology (Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine) at the University of Calgary in 1999 and obtained her PhD in Epidemiology (Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine) from the University of Alberta in 2004.
Carolyn is a member of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, O’Brien Institute of Public Health, Hotchkiss Brain Institute and the McCaig Institute of Bone and Joint Health. The focus of her research program is in injury prevention in youth sport and recreation and paediatric rehabilitation, aimed to reduce the public health burden of injury including long-term consequences (e.g., post-concussion syndrome).
Carolyn holds a Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Concussion and is Chair of the Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre (International Olympic Committee Research Centre for the Prevention of Injuries and Protection of Athlete Health) at the University of Calgary. She leads the Safe to Play Concussion Research Team (Canadian Institutes for Health Research), SHRed Concussions (a pan-Canadian program of research funded by the National Football League Scientific Advisory Board) and co-leads the Alberta Program in Youth Sport and Recreational Injury Prevention (Alberta Innovates Health Solutions).
Carolyn is a Canadian Academy of Health Sciences Fellow and a Royal Society of Canada New Scholar.
Assistant Professor Doug Terry (Vanderbilt University, USA)
Neuropsychologist, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA; Assistant Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA; Co-Director, Vanderbilt Sports Concussion Center, Nashville, TN, USA; Director, Center for Cognitive Neurosurgical Studies, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
Assistant Professor Terry’s previous role was as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School within the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network and Massachusetts General Hospital.
Clinically, he specialises in the assessment of neurocognitive and emotional difficulties, with additional services related to the management of concussions/traumatic brain injuries. His research focus spans several topics within neuropsychology and cognitive and behavioural neurology, including sports medicine, concussion and its comorbid conditions, rehabilitation, and long-term outcomes.
Dr Joshua Goldman (UCLA, USA)
Assistant Clinical Professor, Departments of Family Medicine and Orthopaedic Surgery, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Dr Goldman specialises in the care of athletes and has a particular research interest in sport-related concussion). He is the team physician for UCLA football, men's soccer, and women's water polo programs.
He has previously served as a team physician for UCLA baseball, softball, and men's volleyball as well as a volunteer team physician at the United States Olympic Training Center.
He also serves in many administrative roles within the University. These include the Associate Director for the Orthopaedic Institute for Children's Center for Sports Medicine, the Associate Director of the UCLA Steve Tisch BrainSPORT Program, and the Program Director for the UCLA Sports Medicine fellowship.
He is a member of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine where he serves on the Education and Fellowship committees, the PAC-12 Student-Athlete Health Conference Committee, the American College of Sports Medicine, and the American Academy of Family Physicians.
“Establishing the HITIQ SMAC is a tremendous step forward in bringing together world leaders in the field of concussion whose guidance will be extremely valuable to our team.
It also serves as a strong endorsement and alignment with our vision from a panel we consider to be the global thought leaders in the concussion management space.
The HITIQ SMAC will meet regularly, focussing on being able to better service our current and future client base and importantly in guiding product development to meet concussion management protocols via planned product enhancements and new releases.”
MIKE VEGAR
CEO, HITIQ