Jeff G. Konin. PhD, ATC, PT, has been selected as one of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association’s 2010 Fellows. Konin, associate professor and vice chair of the Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine and executive director of the Sports Medicine & Athletic Related Trauma Institute at USF Health. was one of five certified athletic trainers nationwide selected for the honor. The NATA Fellows program recognizes professional achievement in research and/or research, combined with service to the profession. Only the most accomplished scholars in the athletic training profession earn this distinction […]

Simulation fine-tunes USF athletic training students’ response to on-field emergencies With the increased national focus on concussion and spinal injuries in football, USF has stepped up proactive measures to insure that those who take care of the athletes practice responding to these on-field emergencies.  Emergency care has always been included as part of the athletic training curriculum at USF, but the ability to practice in “game-like” situations has been limited. Recently, USF athletic training students who will graduate in May and begin work as athletic trainers at high schools, colleges and universities, […]

Dec. 8, 2009 — NFL Charities, the charitable foundation of the National Football League, has awarded $1.5 million in grants to support sports-related medical research at 11 organizations nationwide, including the University of South Florida, the NFL announced today. USF Sports Medicine expert Eric Coris, MD, received a $124,390 NFL Charities Medical Research Grant to study the prevention and treatment of heat stress among athletes. This is the third consecutive NFL Charities research award won by Dr. Coris; he has received a total of more than $272,000 in funding from […]

CLEARWATER, Fla. (June 22, 2009) — The new USF-Morton Plant Mease Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship will start its first fellow next month after recently receiving full accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Fellows are doctors who are receiving specialized graduate medical education in a subspecialty. They already have completed medical school and graduate training, or residency, in a primary specialty. “We’re delighted to be able to train more doctors for careers in sports medicine,” said Dr. Eric Coris, director of the University of South Florida’s Sports […]

Barbara Morris, assistant director of the SMART Institute, presents Coach of the Year Award to Gaither HS Coach Thomas Payne. The Sports Medicine and Athletic Related Trauma Institute held its first annual SMART Appreciation Event for coaches, parents, athletic trainers and their families June 2 at the USF Health Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare. Inaugural awards were presented for Coach of the Year, Parent of the Year, and Comeback Athlete of the Year to those receiving the most nominations from the SMART certified athletic trainers working in the Hillsborough County […]

David Leffers, MD University of South Florida orthopedic surgeon David Leffers, MD, a widely-recognized authority in sports medicine, has been appointed chair of the USF Health Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine. Dr. Leffers takes over for Robert Pedowitz, MD, who established and led the fledgling department through its pivotal growth during his two-year tenure. Dr. Pedowitz has accepted a position as Orthopaedic Surgery Chair at his alma mater, the University of California-Los Angeles, which has a nationally ranked top 10 medical school. “There are many heroes in the story […]

Two faculty members in the USF Health Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine received annual awards at the Athletic Trainers’ Association of Florida 21st Annual Clinical Symposium, April 17 to 19, in Orlando. Barbara Morris, MS, ATC, CSCC, ROT, assistant program director of USF Health’s Sports Medicine and Athletic Related Trauma (SMART) Institute, won the organization’s Professional Athletic Trainer of the Year award. The award is given to an athletic trainer who has displayed a high level of professionalism and whose contributions have improved the profession above and beyond their […]

For a second time in two years, Associate Professor, Eric Coris, MD, has been nominated for the prestigious Humanism in Medicine Award by the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC). Students from the USF College of Medicine overwhelmingly voted for Coris and his nomination has now moved forward in the awards process earning him a spot among 45 finalists & nominees selected from across the U.S. The official announcement from the AAMC came on September 10th. The award winner of the national 2008 Humanism in Medicine Award will be announced […]

Members of the USF athletic training team help to record players’ core temperatures throughout the practice sessions. Each player’s pill transmits a signal to the hand held data recorders. The silicone coated ‘heat pill’ was developed using NASA technology. The data collected by Dr. Eric Coris, Director of Primary Care Sports Medicine, University of South Florida, is used to prevent potentially life-threatening heat illness in student athletes. Part of the technology involves a host of portable electronic devices that Dr. Coris and athletic staff members wear. The pill, ingested by […]

At left, Dr. Eric Coris is the Director of Primary Care Sports Medicine for USF and Associate Professor in the USF College of Medicine – Family Medicine and Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine. See Heat Pill Study Video Below. USF Study to Prevent Heat Illness in Student Athletes May Have Applications Beyond the Playing Field It’s another hot and humid August morning of preseason practice for the USF Bulls football team. With the sun beating down on the field, the temperature is already 90 degrees Fahrenheit at 9 a.m., and the […]