ABOUT THE SEMINAR

‘Subconcussive’ Head Injuries – A Decade at the Interface of Sport, Engineering and Medicine

For the past decade, our pioneering efforts have documented a wide range of potentially adverse health effects associated with head acceleration events (HAEs) without clinical diagnosis of a concussion. Individuals experiencing so-called “subconcussive” HAEs do not elicit easily identifiable symptoms and continue participation. Therefore, they are expected to be at a greater risk for further injury. Multiple neuroimaging studies suggest several types of neurologic changes, including inflammation, are associated with subconcussive HAE exposure and could produce lasting changes to the brain. Given the frequency at which such changes have been observed in high school athletes—a large and vulnerable population—prevention is critical. This talk will explore the history of this work, and explore how the field may transition effectively from damage characterization to the development of models that address the more pertinent concerns of why this damage accrues, who is at greatest risk, and how to mitigate these risks.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Thomas Talavage, Ph.D., Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Cincinnati

Thomas Talavage is Professor and Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Cincinnati. He received his BS in Computer and Electrical Engineering and an MS in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University, and a PhD in Speech and Hearing Sciences from the MIT-Harvard Division of Health Sciences and Technology. Prof. Talavage was first to document pathophysiology arising from repeated head impacts in absence of concussion. This work has been nationally featured, including Sports Illustrated (2010), Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (2012) and Nova (2013), with additional coverage via PBS Frontline (2012), The Economist (2019), and ESPN (2020).

ABOUT THE BME SEMINAR SERIES

The Department of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University is proud to host an annual weekly seminar series on the latest developments and research in Biomedical Engineering. The weekly series takes place on Friday mornings at 11:00 AM Eastern and includes a variety of renowned academics from top universities to talk about their specific research and experience. This is a hybrid event.