University of Maryland Athletics

Rod Walters is CEO of Walters Inc., a sports medicine consulting firm that advises universities, professional sports leagues and other organizations on best practices and standards of care. He has worked in athletic training for more than 40 years. An athletic trainer by trade, Walters worked 27 years in collegiate athletics, serving as the University of South Carolina’s Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Medicine before launching his own firm in 2007. The University of Maryland hired Walters Inc. to provide an independent investigation following the death of student-athlete Jordan McNair. A member of the National Athletic Trainers Association, Dr. Walters served on their Board of Directors from 1997 to 2003. He received the NATA's Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer in 2003 and was inducted into the NATA's Hall of Fame in 2005. He is also a member of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine. He received his Doctor of Arts degree in Physical Education from Middle Tennessee State University and his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Appalachian State University. Walters will serve as the chair of the AMRB.

Sean Barnes is an Assistant Professor of Operations Management in the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. His research interests include infectious disease modeling, healthcare analytics, agent-based modeling and simulation, machine learning, and data visualization; and his current collaborations include the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins University. His research has been published in the INFORMS Journal on Computing, IISE Transactions on Healthcare Systems Engineering, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, Annals of Emergency Medicine, and Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, as well as other engineering and clinical outlets. At the University of Maryland, he teaches analytics, simulation, and Python courses to MS, MBA, and undergraduate students. He received his doctoral degree in Scientific Computation from the University of Maryland in 2012 and previously studied Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Scott Bennett has over 25 years of experience in the strength and conditioning field, currently serving as Radford University’s head strength and conditioning coach, after spending time at Virginia Tech, James Madison, University of Southern Mississippi, the University of Wyoming and Marshall University. He was promoted to Assistant AD for Sport Performance in July 2015. At Radford, Bennett oversees the day-to-day operations of the strength and conditioning program, which plays an instrumental role in the success of Highlander student-athletes and is designed to help each player reach his/her full potential. Bennett is part of the National Strength and Conditioning Association’s Coaches Registry at the Emeritus level—the highest level awarded in the field. Perhaps the honor standing out most in his impressive list of accolades is his accreditation as a Master Strength and Conditioning Coach with the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Association (CSCCa) since 2006. At the time, there were only 62 certified at this level in the world. A 1989 graduate of the University of Mississippi with a Bachelor of Science in Health and Physical Education, Bennett obtained his Master of Education from Clemson University.

Dr. Cynthia "Sam" Booth was a certified athletic trainer for 36 years before retiring her credential in 2017. She has worked in athletic training positions at the University of Kansas, West Virginia University and Minnesota State University – Moorhead. She received her PhD from the University of North Dakota in May 2000. Dr. Booth worked as a healthcare administrator for twelve years and has thirty-five years of university teaching experience. She retired in January 2018 only to re-enter the workforce as an Interim Academic Advisor at The College at Brockport in NY, but will return to retirement status at the end of the 2018-2019 academic year. She has been a member of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association for over 40 years. Dr. Booth was inducted into the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame in 2006 and awarded the "Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer" Award in 2002. She was the first woman to serve as the District IV Director on the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Board of Directors. She has also served as the NATA secretary/treasurer, chair and as a member of the NATA Finance Committee. Booth has been inducted into six Halls of Fame: the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame, Minnesota State University -- Moorhead Athletic Hall of Fame, the Great Lakes Athletic Trainers’ Association’s Golden Pinnacle Award (District Hall of Fame), the Minnesota Athletic Trainers’ Hall of Fame, Oak Hill High School Athletic Hall of Fame and the West Virginia University College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences Hall of Fame.

Jennifer (VanAssen) Brunelli, MS, RD, LDN, is a 7-time All American swimmer and Hall of Fame athlete, and the owner of RDpro, LLC, a nutrition consulting business in the Charlotte area that she opened in July 2011. She is in her seventh year with the Carolina Panthers as the sports dietitian working directly with the players. Brunelli is also in her second season as the sports dietitian for the NASCAR team, Roush Fenway Racing. In her career, Brunelli has worked on nutrition education, meal planning, body composition assessments, eating disorders, food intolerances and allergies, corporate wellness, performance kitchen design, supplement analysis, and with a wide range of clientele including age groups, masters, and professional athletes, along with collegiate and professional teams. She attended the University of South Carolina and graduated with degrees in Marketing and Management.

Ron Courson, ATC, PT, NRAEMT, CSCS, is Senior Associate Athletic Director - Sports Medicine at the University of Georgia Athletic Association. Courson joined the University of Georgia in May of 1995. He is also a nationally registered advanced emergency medical technician as well as a certified strength and conditioning specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Courson has been involved in many athletic training activities including working as an athletic trainer with the U.S. Olympic Team at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea; 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle; 1987 World University Games in Zagreb, Yugoslavia; 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis; and the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. He served as the chief athletic trainer for the 1996 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials as well as the chief athletic trainer for track and field for the Atlanta Committee for the 1996 Olympic Games. Active in his profession, Courson has served as a member of the NCAA Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports committee and frequently presents at regional and national sports medicine meetings. Courson was inducted into the NATA Hall of Fame in 2013.

Mark Laursen, MS, ATC, is currently the Director of Athletic Training Services at Boston University, having spent the past 11 years in this role, while also teaching as a Clinical Associate Professor of Athletic Training in BU's Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. Laursen has authored and contributed to numerous publications, has made more than 100 presentations, and is a reviewer for the Journal of Athletic Training and Athletic Training Education Journal. His research and practice interests include professional and post-professional athletic training education, clinical education, transition to practice, and non-orthopedic conditions. He received the NATA’s Tim Kerin Award for Excellence in 2017, which honors athletic trainers who demonstrate outstanding service, dedication and integrity, as well as the CAATE’s Pete Keohneke Award for Leadership that recognizes significant, ongoing contributions of exceptional value to athletic training education and accreditation. In 2016, the NATA named him a Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer. He received the NATA Service Award in 2009 and in 2007 he was named the NCAA Division IAA National Head Athletic Trainer of the Year.

Dr. Matt Leiszler, M.D., is in his fifth year at the University of Notre Dame as the head football team physician. Leiszler graduated from Harvard University in 2003 with a degree in biology. He was a varsity letter-winning running back on the football team while at Harvard. He finished medical school at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in 2008. After his residency with the University of Colorado (HealthONE Rose Medical Center) Family Medicine program, Leiszler did a sports medicine fellowship with the University of Colorado Hospital in 2012. He was on faculty at the University of Colorado Hospital prior to Notre Dame. Leiszler and his wife Tori have three children.

Bob Peele M.D., served as theTeam Orthopedist and Chief Physician for the University of South Carolina Athletic Department from 1983 to 2001. Peele attended Davidson College as an undergraduate, and there learned of sports medicine from legendary athletic trainer Tom Couch during his time on the freshman basketball team. He attended medical school at Wake Forest University’s Bowman Gray School of Medicine; completed his residency in orthopaedics at the Medical University of South Carolina; and completed his sports medicine fellowship under the legendary Dr. Jack Hughston. In addition to providing for student-athletes at the University of South Carolina, he was also Team Orthopaedist at Irmo, SC High School and Lexington, SC High School from 1982 to June 2015. Peele retired in May 2015, and lives in Georgetown, South Carolina.

Ed Strapp FP-C, NRP, ATC, is currently a Certified Athletic Trainer and a Maryland Flight Paramedic and has served in various roles as an athletic trainer and paramedic for more than 20 years. Strapp is a certified athletic trainer and flight paramedic who regularly presents on the emergency care aspect of athletic training at local, regional and national conferences. He has worked in a wide variety of settings from high school and college programs to elite summer leagues and traveled internationally with the US Ski and Snowboard Teams. Strapp has been an EMT-Basic since 1997 and became a Paramedic in 2010, and has been working full time in EMS since that time. In addition to his athletic training certification, Strapp is also a certified flight paramedic and certified tactical paramedic. Strapp holds a master's’ degree from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (1999) in Exercise Science/Athletic Training and a bachelor's’ degree from the University of Pittsburgh (’97) in Physical Education, Exercise and Sports Science/Athletic Training.