For the Media: The UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program

UPMC/University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences

Dr. Michael “Micky” Collins, clinical and executive director of the UPMC Concussion Program, goes through a complete examination with patient Natalia Watzlaf, a local high-school athlete. Click the thumbnail below to download it in high resolution. Photo credit: "UPMC"

The UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program was the first of its kind when it opened its doors in 2000. It has remained the largest ever since, serving as an international leader in this still-evolving discipline. At the forefront of concussion research, assessment, treatment, rehabilitation, and education for more than a decade, the Concussion Program sees more than 13,000 patients annually, produces more published research than any program that followed, and continues to set the standards of care.

Expanded Program

To better meet the needs of patients among the estimated 1.7 to 3 million Americans afflicted by this injury each year, the Concussion Program moved in January 2012 to a newly constructed wing dedicated to individualized care. The new, 3,500-square-foot facility has a 24-person staff, nine examination rooms and a multidisciplinary approach devoted to concussion management in all levels of athletics, all ages of patients, and all walks of life.

Multi-Specialty Team

Its internationally recognized team of clinicians, therapists, and researchers are among the world’s innovators in studying the effects of concussion and applying a multidisciplinary approach to managing this often debilitating injury. They were the pioneers of the first and most widely utilized computerized neurocognitive test, and the first to use its research in improving treatment techniques. This evidence-based knowledge and exam-room experience has made UPMC the forerunner in concussion assessment and rehabilitation. The program’s clinical and executive director is Michael “Micky” Collins, Ph.D. In addition to sharing in the clinic’s treatment and research, Dr. Collins helped to develop both the Center for Disease Control concussion toolkit as well as the neurocognitive testing protocols used in the NFL, NHL, MLB, college and high-school athletics, and the U.S. military. . . with roughly 3 million people tested, and growing.

Concussion Testing Expertise

Dr. Collins assisted Mark Lovell, Ph.D., the Concussion Program’s founding director, and co-medical director Joseph Maroon, M.D., in founding ImPACT^® (Immediate Post-concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing). The testing system was the first computerized assessment tool to evaluate a concussion’s severity and more accurately determine when an injured athlete can safely return to play. Today, ImPACT is the most widely used and scientifically accepted tool in the United States for comprehensive clinical concussion management.

Press Releases

• September 10, 2014
  Pitt, UPMC Researchers Create New Vestibular Test to Add to Comprehensive Concussion Evaluation
• April 2, 2014
  Pitt Researchers Find Portable, Low-Cost Optical Imaging Tool Useful in Concussion Evaluation
• January 23, 2014
  GE-NFL Grant Awarded to Pitt, UPMC Concussion Program to Conduct Innovative Brain Imaging
• Thursday, June 6, 2013

Downloadable Images

High-school athlete Baylee DeForest of Virginia undergoes a vision examination by Anne Mucha, the clinical coordinator for vestibular therapy with the UPMC Concussion Program.

• Additional images

Additional Resources

• UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program
• Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment And Cognitive Testing (ImPACT)
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Concussion Toolkit