Health & Safety Advisory Council

Dr. LaBotz is a pediatric sports medicine physician. She graduated from Dartmouth Medical School and trained in pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Maine Medical Center and in sports medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is an associate professor at Tufts University School of Medicine and is serving as the medical director of the athletic training program at the University of New England. She is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness and serves on the board for the AAP’s Maine Chapter. She is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, a member of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, and serves as a content expert for True Sport, the educational arm of the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

Dr. Andrews is internationally known and recognized for his scientific and clinical research contributions on knee, shoulder and elbow injuries and his skill as an orthopedic surgeon, having extended the careers of countless high school, college and professional athletes. He is a Founding Partner and Medical Director for The Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze, Fla. Dr. Andrews is a member of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and helped create the STOP Sports Injuries program for the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine.

Dr. Casiero is the Chief Medical Officer at the NCAA. She previously served as Director of Sports Medicine and Head Team Physician at the University of Connecticut. She has been Head Team Physician and Medical Director for Hofstra University, Tournament Physician and Director of Player Medical Services for the U.S. Open Tennis Championship and Assistant Team Physician for the NHL’s New York Islanders. Dr. Casiero is a member of the American Medical Society of Sports Medicine. Dr. Casiero received her undergraduate degree in athletic training from Springfield College in 1999 and graduated with a medical degree from New York Medical College in 2006. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York, from 2006-2009 and completed her training with a primary care sports medicine fellowship at UConn from 2009-2010.

Ron Courson is the Executive Associate Athletic Director at the University of Georgia, where he oversees sports medicine. He is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and a nationally registered advanced emergency medical technician. Courson has worked with the U.S. Olympic Team and served on the NFL Health and Safety Committee. He was inducted into the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame in 2013. Ron will earn his PhD in December 2025.

Dr. Diamond is the Director of the Vanderbilt Youth Sports Health Center and a Professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He holds appointments in Orthopaedic Surgery, Pediatrics, and Neurological Surgery. He also serves as a Team Physician for Vanderbilt University and the NHL’s Nashville Predators. Dr. Diamond chairs the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee for the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and previously served on the executive committee for the AAP’s Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness. He is the creator of Tennessee’s Safe Stars program—the nation’s first youth sports safety rating system—and has helped pass multiple youth sports safety laws through state legislative testimony. A strong advocate for injury prevention, Dr. Diamond’s work centers on making sports safer and more accessible for young athletes.

Linda Flanagan is a freelance journalist, a former cross-country and track coach, and the author of Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids’ Sports—and Why It Matters. She is a founding board member of the New York City chapter of the Positive Coaching Alliance, a contributor to Project Play at the Aspen Institute, and a regular writer for NPR’s education site MindShift. Her columns on sports have appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Runner’s World, and she is currently co-producing a documentary series on mental health in collegiate women athletes.

Patrick Freeland is the Director of Statewide Quality Improvement Systems at the Forum for Youth Investment. He holds a master’s degree in mental health counseling and brings over two decades of experience in youth development, policy, compliance, and nonprofit leadership. Patrick leads strategic initiatives to improve afterschool program quality across multiple states and serves as a thought partner to state education agencies. He is a board member of the Soccer Association of Boca Raton and serves as the Director of Girls Soccer for their recreational league. He also serves as a peer reviewer for Social Current (i.e., the Council on Accreditation), helping ensure organizational excellence and accountability across human services and youth-serving systems.

Dr. Haarbauer-Krupa has over 40 years of clinical experience and multiple publications in acquired brain injury. She is Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine. Her most recent position was a Senior Health Scientist on the Traumatic Brain Injury Team, Division of Injury Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
During her career, she develop and managed rehabilitation programs for both children and adults in multiple facilities. During her career, she has joined policy efforts to advocate for the TBI act and worked to develop return to play polices and other injury prevention and safety issues. She recently received the 2025 Moody Foundation award for her research and practice in Traumatic Brain Injury.

Rick Howard is an Assistant Professor of Applied Sports Science, the Sports Performance Coordinator, and Coaching Minor Advisor at West Chester University (PA); Visiting Professor at Reykjavik University, Iceland; and a Teacher at Keilir Health Academy in Ásbrú, Iceland. He earned his doctorate from Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions (Provo, UT). Rick is a certified strength and conditioning specialist (with distinction), a registered strength and conditioning coach (Emeritus), and a fellow of the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Rick presents nationally and internationally on a variety of topics most notably long-term athletic development (LTAD) and the application of concepts of sports performance and foundational coaching principles for coaches, students, personal trainers, physical education teachers. Rick is a master’s Strongman competitor.

Dr. Kliethermes is an Associate Professor in the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation at the University of Wisconsin’s School of Medicine and Public Health and serves as Research Director for the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, helping to lead AMSSM’s Collaborative Research Network. Her background includes expertise in biostatistics and research methods. Dr. Kliethermes’ research focuses on the application of statistical methodology and design to sports medicine topics such as youth sport specialization, psychosocial well-being in athletes and the influence of running biomechanics on injury risk.

Dr. Knell is an epidemiologist with expertise in physical activity and sports medicine research. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas Health Science Center and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in kinesiology. His research focuses on youth physical activity and sports participation within a behavioral epidemiology framework, spanning multiple phases of research, including secular trends, disparities, and determinants of physical activity, sleep, sedentary behavior, and sports participation. Dr. Knell’s work is funded by the National Institutes of Health and other public and private foundations and is conducted through partnerships with clinical and community-based organizations. He is an active member of the American College of Sports Medicine and the Pediatric Research in Sports Medicine Society. His research has been featured in major media outlets including The New York Times and CNN. He serves on the board of the Doc Hall Foundation, a nonprofit organization supporting youth lacrosse in Texas, and is a member of the editorial board of Archives of Public Health.