Newswise — NEW ORLEANS, La. – David Epstein, author of the New York Times bestseller, The Sports Gene, will deliver the Presidential Keynote at the 23rd Annual Meeting of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) at the Hyatt Regency in New Orleans next week. In his keynote, Epstein will address the following:

• How "nature versus nurture" in sports is a false dichotomy.• Why Major League Baseball players need both the right physical "hardware" and "software" to be able to hit 100-mph fastballs. • Where the 10,000-hours rule comes from and what the data from that famous study says. • How the body types of athletes have changed faster than the gene pool of humanity has changed, and how that provides new information to help people find the right sport. • Why the push for increased youth sport specialization is bad both for the health of youth athletes and their athletic development. Epstein is currently an investigative reporter at the nonprofit newsroom, ProPublica. Prior to that, he was a senior writer at Sports Illustrated, where he focused on sports science and medicine. Epstein is perhaps best known for co-authoring the story that exposed the steroid use of Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. He has a Master’s degree in environmental science and was All-East as an 800-meter runner at Columbia University.

His presidential keynote will be held from 10:40 a.m. to 11:10 a.m. on Sunday, April 6, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans. Registration is required for admittance. Media interested in being credentialed for the 2014 AMSSM Annual Meeting must contact Jessica Torres-Sosa, AMSSM Communications Manager, at [email protected].

About the AMSSM Annual Meeting: More than 1,400 sports medicine physicians from the United States and abroad come together to address advances and challenges in sports medicine through lectures and research. Learn more at https://www.amssm.org/ConferencesDetails.php?IDconf=58&Past=.

About the AMSSM: AMSSM is a multi-disciplinary organization of 2,500 sports medicine physicians dedicated to education, research, advocacy and the care of athletes of all ages. The majority of AMSSM members are primary care physicians with fellowship training and added qualification in sports medicine who then combine their practice of sports medicine with their primary specialty. AMSSM includes members who specialize solely in non-surgical sports medicine and serve as team physicians at the youth level, NCAA, NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, MLS and NHL, as well as with Olympic teams. By nature of their training and experience, sports medicine physicians are ideally suited to provide comprehensive medical care for athletes, sports teams or active individuals who are simply looking to maintain a healthy lifestyle. www.amssm.org

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