UW News

October 21, 2010

UW Medicine physicians participate in concussion roundtable

On Oct. 9 Dr. Stan Herring, UW professor of rehabilitation medicine and director of the UW Medicine Spine Center, and Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, UW professor and chair of neurological surgery, participated in a concussion education and advocacy conference hosted by the Seattle Seahawks.


Other speakers included Seattle Seahawks President Peter McLoughlin, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Gov. Christine Gregoire, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Dr. Ileana Arias, U.S. Army General Peter Chiarelli, Dr. Hunt Batjer, who is the Michael J. Marchese Professor of Neurological Surgery at Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University; Brain Injury Association of Washington’s Richard Adler, and UW Medicine concussion patient Zackery Lysted. Batjer and Ellenbogen co-chair the National Football League (NFL) Head, Neck and Spine Medical Committee.



The Washington state concussion law is named after Zackery Lystedt, who suffered a traumatic brain injury playing football in 2006. Washington’s Lystedt Law passed in 2009 and requires an athlete with signs of a concussion to receive written clearance from a licensed healthcare professional before returning to play.


Participants of the “Keeping Youth Sports Safe Round Table” discussed concussion prevention, management and treatment among youth athletes.


The conference preceded the Brain Injury Association of Washington’s 4th Annual Gala Dinner & Auction at the Grand Hyatt Seattle. Commissioner Goodell served as the honorary chairman for the event, which raised money to support advocacy and work related to traumatic head and brain injury survivors in the state