• Presentation Slides (PDF)
• A Q&A with Dr. Christine Baugh, the 2022 ODP Early-Stage Investigator Lecture Awardee 

Millions of youth, adolescents, and young adults participate in sports and recreational activities annually. Although sports have numerous benefits, they also come with potential harms including brain injury. In fact, 1.6-3.8 million such injuries occur as a result of sports and recreational activities annually in the United States. Understanding and addressing this health burden has been a focus of numerous scientific and public health efforts. The health consequences of sport-related brain injury range from acute to chronic and from minor to catastrophic. Given the wide array of health effects, a multimodal prevention strategy is essential. Thus, leveraging the public health framework of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention—preventing the injury from occurring, rapidly identifying those that do occur, and minimizing downstream effects—is helpful for framing prevention efforts. In this presentation, Dr. Christine Baugh describes what is known about sport-related brain injury and its health consequences and highlights a range of approaches for reducing harm. Finally, she discusses ethical implications and current debates in the field.

Christine Baugh, Ph.D., M.P.H., is an Assistant Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine and the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at University of Colorado School of Medicine. She conducts multidisciplinary research at the intersection of health, policy, ethics, and sport. Much of her work focuses on the primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of concussions and other sports injuries. Dr. Baugh is the author of 70 peer-reviewed research articles that have been collectively cited over 8,000 times in literature. Her work has been featured in high-profile media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, and ESPN. She has won numerous awards including being listed on the 2016 Forbes 30 Under 30 list in sports.