The White House will hold a summit on youth sports and concussions on Thursday to raise awareness of the problem of sports-related concussion for kids and adolescents. The administration is expected to announce new commitments by the public and private sectors to invest in research to better understand sports-related concussions, develop strategies, tools and interventions that might help keep kids safe, and educate parents, coaches, school leaders and others on how to best keep kids safe while enjoying sports.

Dr. Christina Master, sports medicine specialist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, will participate in the summit. She is available to speak to the media about pediatric concussion diagnosis, treatment, areas of new research and best practices for “return to learn” and “return to play” protocols for children and adolescents. To schedule an interview with Dr. Master, please email Alison Fraser at [email protected] or call 267-426-6054.

Background:The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has seen a dramatic increase in concussion visits among children and adolescents in the last five years, with more than 11,300 visits last year through CHOP’s emergency department, primary care and specialty care network. This is more than a nine-fold increase since 2009 when CHOP had about 1,250 concussion visits.

CHOP has a strong commitment to improving awareness, diagnosis and treatment of youth concussions. The Hospital plans to increase concussion research, expand community outreach within the youth sports community, create additional consumer education tools, and increase and streamline access to concussion care within the hospital network.

Dr. Christina Master is an expert in the field of pediatric and adolescent sports medicine, with an emphasis on pediatric and adolescent concussion. Her expertise spans patient care, clinical research and advocacy and education efforts within the community.

Dr. Master is an attending physician in the Departments of Pediatrics and Surgery, in the Divisions of General Pediatrics/Primary Care as well as Orthopedics/Sports Medicine at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She is also the associate program director, Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and associate professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research and clinical interests are in the area of pediatric and adolescent concussion.

CHOP’s concussion website www.chop.edu/concussion, was developed to help parents and others who interact with children and youth to recognize concussion and to support a child’s physician-guided recovery. Additional resources for the media are available upon request.