Dr. Eckner received his M.D. degree from Case Western Reserve University and his M.S. degree from the University of Michigan in Clinical Research Design and Statistical Analysis. His research addresses mild traumatic brain injury in athletes, including concussion prevention through neck strengthening exercise, concussion biomechanics, determining the role of reaction time testing in concussion assessment, long term effects of concussion on neurological health, as well as, in the management and rehabilitation of athletes.
Dr. Eckner is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Director of Clinical Research, Michigan NeuroSport and PM&R Concussion Programs, and Director of the PM&R Resident Research Program, in addition to the Michigan Concussion Center’s Research Associate Director.
Dr. Mark E. Oppenlander is a board-certified neurosurgeon at the University of Michigan Departments of Neurological Surgery and Orthopaedic Surgery. He specializes in complex spinal operations, including spinal deformity, scoliosis, spinal tumors, thoracic disc disease, craniovertebral junction surgery, robotics in neurosurgery, and trauma. Dr. Oppenlander has published numerous peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and abstracts, and participated in conferences at the state, national, and international level with multiple invited presentations. He serves as faculty for the AANS Coding and Reimbursement Committee and is an Unaffiliated Neurotrauma Consultant for the National Football League (NFL).
Dr. Hu’s research focuses on injury biomechanics, parametric human modeling, and optimization of safety designs by a multidisciplinary approach combining experimental, numerical, and epidemiological procedures. He is an author of 120+ peer-reviewed journal and conference papers and has received multiple awards on developing parametric human models representing a diverse population for injury prevention. Dr. Hu’s research has been funded by a variety of government and industry funding agencies, including NHTSA, NSF, NIJ, DOD, and the auto industry. These projects have resulted in a wide range of scientific publications that are impacting the state-of-the-art tools for injury assessment.
Amanda Esquivel obtained her PhD from Wayne State University in Biomedical Engineering. She is currently an Associate Professor in Bioengineering at University of Michigan – Dearborn in the department of Mechanical Engineering. Her research focuses on head injuries and measuring head acceleration in male and female athletes, validating wearable devices for on-field measurement, and protective equipment. She was recently awarded a Major Research Instrumentation by the National Science Foundation to acquire a linear impactor system to study injury mechanisms and severity.
Dr. Andrea Almeida is Co-Director of the Michigan NeuroSport Program and an Associate Professor in Neurology. After completing a Neurology residency at Tulane University, she came to the University of Michigan to serve as the first Sports Neurology fellow for the Department of Neurology. Dr. Almeida specializes in Sports Neurology with an emphasis on the treatment of neurologic injuries in athletes, particularly concussion. She also serves as a team physician and consultant for Eastern Michigan University, University of Michigan, and USA Hockey.
Dr. Almeida is the Michigan Concussion Center’s Clinical Associate Director and a member of its Executive Committee.
Dr. Alsalaheen is a clinician-scientist with a research program focused on developing comprehensive approaches to identify and modulate factors associated with variations in concussion risks, recovery times, and rehabilitation outcomes. The majority of Dr. Alsalaheen’s work is in the area of clinical interventions for concussion including vestibular therapy, cervical physical therapy, ocular-motor training, and supervised exercise training. In collaborations with other interdisciplinary scientists, Dr. Alsalaheen employs a variety of laboratory, translational and clinical designs with an emphasis on knowledge translation and implementation science. In addition to his concussion research, Dr. Alsalaheen is a practicing clinician at Michigan NeuroSport clinic.
Ellen Arruda obtained her B.S. and M.S. at Pennsylvania State University and Ph.D. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the Tim Manganello/BorgWarner Department Chair of Mechanical Engineering and the Maria Comninou Collegiate Professor of ME and a professor of biomedical engineering, macromolecular science, and engineering. Her research focuses on the mechanical behavior of materials including polymers, elastomers, and soft tissue. One of her more recent projects has been with a football helmet design that aims to reduce a key contributor to brain injury. Arruda holds a position as a member of the National Academy of Engineering and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Mechanics, Society of Engineering Science, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Dr. James Ashton-Miller is the Albert Schultz Collegiate Research Professor and Distinguished Research Scientist at the University of Michigan Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering. He also is the Director of the Biomechanics Research Laboratory. Dr. Ashton-Miller is an internationally recognized researcher in the field of biomechanics.
Dr. Ashton-Miller’s current focus includes balance, sports injury, concussion, and falls research. In the area of balance and falls, in regards to a concussion, he is studying the role of neck strength in children and has invented and validated a simple practical and portable test to evaluate recovery from concussion in and outside the clinic.
Steven Broglio is a Professor of Kinesiology and adjunct Professor of Neurology, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Dr Broglio completed his training at the University of Georgia, took his first faculty position at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and has been at the University of Michigan since 2011.
At Michigan, Dr. Broglio is the Director of the Michigan Concussion Center and the NeuroTrauma Research Laboratory where he oversees clinical care, educational outreach, and multi-disciplinary research aimed at fundamental questions on concussion prevention, identification, diagnosis, management, and outcomes. His research has been supported by the National Athletic Trainers’ Research and Education Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and the Department of Defense. Dr Broglio was awarded the Early Career Investigator Award by the International Brain Injury Association, the Early Career award by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, and Fellowship in the American College of Sports Medicine and National Athletic Trainers’ Association.
