NATA Names Mollie Pillman as Executive Director
NATA announced that Mollie Pillman, MS, MBA, CAE, will begin her role as executive director Sept. 2. Pillman was selected following a highly competitive national search led by executive search firm Vetted Solutions.
NATM 2014 Wrap Up and Winners
Now that the book has been closed on National Athletic Training Month 2014, we wanted to look back and express our appreciation to all the ATs who participated. The response via social media during the month was phenomenal, with the hashtag #NATM2014 being used over 19,000 times on Twitter. We also had an amazing number of entries for our NATM Social Media Contest with over 1,500 photos posted. All the ATs out there also stepped up when it came to rewarding some of their own. The poll we posted last week to choose the favorite NATM poster photo received thousands of votes.
Deadline Approaching for the Research Mentor Program
There’s still time to apply for the 2014 NATA Foundation Mentor Program! This unique initiative from the NATA Foundation pairs a small group of “young investigators” with a mentor to provide assistance, advice or collaborative efforts on projects, grant reviews, research, academic manuscripts and more. The program is also a great opportunity to connect with experienced ATs conducting research in the clinical or academic setting.
My Olympic Experience
Two months ago, I was given the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream by serving as an athletic trainer for the USOC Medical Staff for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. A common question I hear is, “How did you get involved?” Like anything in life, there are multiple paths to get to the same destination, but I can certainly share mine.
Vote For Your Favorite NATM Poster Photo!
The response to our NATM Social Media Contest was outstanding once again this year. We are collecting all the photos right now and will be announcing the prize winners next week. But another option available was to post a photo of the NATM poster we included with the March NATA News. Because we had such great entries for this, we need your help to choose the winner. We have narrowed it down to a top 10 and they are posted below. You can vote for two, so let us know which ones you think are the best. The poll will be available for just one week, so be sure to vote early and often.
April NATA News: From the Editor
When we were offered the chance to shadow athletic trainers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston for our April NATA News, we jumped at the chance. Our Managing Editor Jaimie Siegle worked diligently to set this trip up for months and months, and it suddenly came together in a whirlwind back in February. Special thanks to Joshua Yellen, EdD, ATC, LAT, and Bruce Nieschwitz, ATC, LAT, for navigating the strict NASA regulations to get us in the door that day.
Emphasizing Ethics in Education
Down The Homestretch of NATM 2014
March is National Brain Injury Awareness Month, Too
Coinciding with the March madness of National Athletic Training Month, the 5th Annual Youth Sports Safety Summit and NATA’s annual Capitol Hill Day in Washington, D.C., there is another March designation that deserves your attention: Brain Injury Awareness Month. Spearheaded by the Brain Injury Association of America and its affiliates, the goal is to improve quality and access of care to the 2.4 million Americans who will sustain a brain injury this year. “Brain injuries do not discriminate,” warns the 2014 poster.