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A town hall-style meeting to draw attention to the problem of youth sports concussions and other brain injuries among children and young people is being held at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Jan. 29 (Saturday).

A town hall-style meeting to draw attention to the problem of youth sports concussions and other brain injuries among children and young people is being held at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Jan. 29 (Saturday).

The event, “How Do We Prevent, Identify and Treat Concussions in Youth?” will take place from 10 a.m. to noon in the Stallings-Evans Sports Medicine Center adjacent to the Woollen Gymnasium building on South Rd.

The meeting is part of a nationwide public awareness campaign led by the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation. The tour aims to raise awareness of the risks and symptoms of concussions and introduce the foundation’s National Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury Plan. The plan aims to improve the prevention, identification and treatment of brain injuries and provide help for injured children and young adults and their families.

The event will feature brief talks from several experts, followed by a discussion and question period. Panelists include Kevin Guskiewicz, Ph.D., Kenan Distinguished Professor, chair of the exercise and sport science department in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences and director of the Matthew Gfeller Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center; Jason Mihalik, Ph.D., assistant professor of exercise and sport science; Johna Register-Mihalik, Ph.D., postdoctoral research associate in the Gfeller Center; , Psy.D. and Alanna Adler Conder, Psy.D.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half a million children aged 0 to 14 visit an emergency department or are hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury every year, and almost 2,200 die. Annually, hospital emergency departments treat an estimated 135,000 sports and recreation-related brain injuries among children aged 5 to 18. 

The event is free, but registration is requested. RSVP to Johna Register-Mihalik at (919) 962-2702 or johnakay@email.unc.edu.

UNC serves as the site of foundation’s State Lead Center of Excellence for North Carolina. The meeting in Chapel Hill is one of four similar foundation events in the state over the coming month. 

Sarah Jane Brain Foundation website: http://www.thebrainproject.org/ 

Foundation contact: Erika Langhart, (970) 749-3963, erika@thebrainproject.org

News Services contact: Patric Lane, (919) 962-8596, patric_lane@unc.edu

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