Help Build the Future of Playing Surface Safety Through the HealthTECH Challenge I

Coulter Program Director and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University, Consultant to NFL Players Association

Dr. Myers has been a member of the Duke faculty since 1991 and is currently Mangin Director of Licensing and Ventures. His research examines the biomechanics of head and neck injury with the goal of injury prevention. Dr. Myers founded and directs the Coulter Foundation Translational Partnership Program at Dule that provides $1 MM in early stage funding and management to faculty health care innovations annually with a goal of licensing and creating new life science start-up companies. Dr. Myers is the Director of Emerging Programs in the Duke Translational Research Institute where he is responsible for the consult service that provides funding and project management support to faculty translational research projects in the Duke Medical Center. Within the office of Licensing and Ventures, he manages IT, legal and works with faculty to facilitate transfer of their innovations into the marketplace. He also maintains an active consulting practice including the NFL and NASCAR while serving as an Executive-in-Residence at Pappas Ventures advising several start-up companies. Dr. Myers is considered by many as the preeminent researcher in his field worldwide, having over 100 manuscripts and publications on the subject. Among Dr. Myers many honors are the Stapp Award of Recognition, and the Isbrandt Award for automotive safety from the Society of Automotive Engineers. He is the six-time winner of the Stapp Award for research in impact biomechanics, more than any other individual, and also the Bertil Aldman award for impact biomechanics research. Dr. Myers has worked with all major organizations concerned with safety in the United States including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment. Because of his breadth of experience in injury prevention, Dr. Myers was appointed to the position of Senior Scientific Advisor to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control for two years. He has also consulted with most major automobile manufacturers and automotive racing organizations worldwide. Dr. Myers is a Distinguished Professor at Duke University, having received the Bass Chair in recognition of his accomplishments in research and teaching. He is the faculty advisor to four student best graduate paper competition winners at national meetings. He was responsible for the 2004 revision of the Pratt School of Engineering undergraduate curriculum. He has served as Director of Undergraduate Studies and Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He has also served as Senior Associate Dean for Industrial Partnerships and the Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization in the Pratt School of Engineering.

Senior Researcher and Lower-Extremity Injury Prevention Lead at Biocore, LLC

Dr. Spratley is a biomedical engineer with more than 15 years of experience in lower extremity musculoskeletal research, with a focus on injuries to the foot and ankle. His work centers on understanding lower limb injury mechanisms, tolerance, and repair associated with high-rate dynamic loading events such as those from sports, military, automotive, and orthopaedic environments. Dr. Spratley's work has included basic science, investigational, clinical, and regulatory applications, with stakeholders in academia, private industry, and government. He has authored or coauthored dozens of refereed articles and conference proceedings in the areas of athletic injury mechanisms, sport equipment and surfaces evaluation, military blast biomechanics, flatfoot deformity, syndesmotic injury repair, ankle total joint replacement, and Lisfranc injury tolerance. He currently sits on the NFL Engineering Committee directing innovative research to reduce the incidence and burden of lower extremity injury in the NFL.

Director, Center for Injury Research and Prevention, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania

Kristy Arbogast, PhD, is the Scientific Director of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention, Co-Director of the Minds Matter Concussion Frontier Program at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the R. Anderson Pew Endowed Chair and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania. She is an internationally recognized expert on pediatric injury biomechanics, injury causation, and the effectiveness of safety products, focusing on children and youth in motor vehicle crashes as well as pediatric concussions. In 2014, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Chalmers University of Technology in Goteborg, Sweden, for her leadership in the field. She was a primary scientist on the Partners for Child Passenger Safety project, a 10-year national landmark study on child passenger safety funded by State Farm Insurance, publishing numerous papers that impacted the lives of child occupants by informing new safety products, test protocols, federal motor vehicle safety standards and laws, public education and curricula, policy and medical practice. Dr. Arbogast's concussion research focuses on the use of head impact sensors to understand the biomechanics and bioengineering technology for objective measures of diagnosis and monitoring. She co-leads an initiative for the NFL and NFL Players Association to design and implement head impact sensors to define loading conditions in elite football in order to enhance head protection. Dr. Arbogast continues to collaborate with industry and government in her role as Co-Director of the Center for Child Injury Prevention Studies (CChIPS), an Industry-University Cooperative Research Center focused on the advancement of safety for children, youth, and young adults. She has been named a fellow and received Award of Merit from the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, has been named a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and received the Pathfinder award from the Automotive Safety Council. She is funded by the CDC, NIH, and DOD and serves as a consultant for the NFL Players Association on topics of injury mitigation.

Senior Research Engineer at Biocore, LLC

Dr. Aldahir received his PhD in Crop, Soils, and Environmental Sciences from Auburn University in 2015. Dr. Aldahir's career has been focused on design and management of sports surfaces for competition at the highest level. With experience in natural grass and synthetic turf, Dr. Aldahir led the development of grass-like artificial surfaces used in the MLB using a data-driven, customer-centric approach. Dr. Aldahir has also led the development of a cradle-to-cradle designed product as an end-of-life solution for artificial turf fields. The result of Dr. Aldahir's body of work is seen in sports turf playability assessments for grass and turf, and numerous patent applications related to products, services, and methods related to sports surfaces solutions. At Biocore, his focus is on the relationship between the playing surface and player injury and performance.

Field Director, NFL

Nick Pappas is an accomplished turfgrass professional and Certified Sports Field Manager. Since graduating with a degree in turfgrass management from the University of Massachusetts, Nick has spent time working across the MLB, MLS & NFL. His experience has earned him the opportunities to work on some of sports biggest events including multiple Super Bowls, MLS Cup, Gold Cup, NCAA Football National Championship, MLB All-Star game and more. In his current role as Field Director for the NFL, Nick is responsible for field operations and planning for all neutral site NFL games, including international games and the Super Bowl, as well as oversight of ongoing surface research and improvements across the NFL. Nick has established himself as a leader in the sports turf industry. He is happiest when spending time with his wife Ashley and raising their two sons John and Nixon.

Professor Emeritus of Soil Science/Turfgrass, The Pennsylvania State University

Dr. McNitt was founder and Director of Penn State's Center for Sports Surface Research where he conducted research relating to athletic field surface characterization, and improved construction and maintenance techniques. Dr. McNitt was also the Program Coordinator for the undergraduate turfgrass science major and World Campus turfgrass programs. In 2010 he was inducted into Penn State University's College of Agricultural Sciences Academy of Teaching Excellence. Dr. McNitt has been honored nationally by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, The Musser International Turfgrass Foundation, The Crop Science Society of America, The American Society of Agronomy, and the Sports Turf Managers Association. He continues to consult on numerous golf course construction and renovation projects and athletic fields construction and renovation at all levels of play from high school through professional sports complexes. Dr. McNitt helped to create the Mandatory Practices for synthetic and natural NFL playing surfaces and currently helps to administer the league's field certification program.