SMU Simmons Joins Forces With Children’s Health To Harness The Power of Sports To Improve Kids’ Well-Being

DALLAS (SMU) – SMU and Children’s Health through its Children’s Health Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine are launching a collaboration dedicated to leveraging the transformational power of sports to improve the health, activity levels and well-being of kids. The Youth Sports Impact Partnership, a unique university-hospital relationship, will use an evidence-based approach to improve access to youth sports, prevent injury and share age-appropriate training and development practices.

“The Children’s Health Andrews Institute understands the importance of sports and play as key parts of a healthy childhood,” says Chad Gilliland, senior director of Surgical Programs at Children’s Health Andrews Institute. “With our focus on keeping youth athletes on the field, we will take a proactive approach to making participation in youth sports healthy and accessible to all North Texas children.”

Despite broad participation and interest, unaddressed issues limit the positive impact of youth sports in America:

  • Access to organized youth sports is limited by family income. According to the 2020 Census, only 23.4 percent of children aged 6 to 11 living below the poverty line participate in sports.
  • The CDC reports that fewer than 24 percent of children are physically active every day, leading to serious health problems like childhood obesity.
  • Volunteer coaches are the backbone of organized youth sports, but only 10 percent receive any kind of relevant training, leading to youth injury and burnout, according to the National Alliance for Youth Sports.

In response, this collaboration will generate research in sports medicine and athletic development, which will be the basis of leadership training for coaches and continuing education for parents. Long-range plans for this collaboration include the creation of an index to measure access to play in North Texas communities, development of a training and injury-prevention program for school and volunteer coaches, and performance research on elite athletes to study best practices in training and coaching.

Researchers also plan to create social impact programming designed to break down the barriers to sports and active play often more prevalent in underserved communities.

The partnership will feature the expertise of Dr. James Andrews, founder and director of the Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, and SMU biomechanist Peter Weyand, who directs the Locomotor Performance Lab in SMU’s Simmons School of Education and Human Development – both internationally renowned for their work with athletes across a spectrum of ages and abilities.

Dr. Andrews is one of the founding members of Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center in Birmingham, Alabama, and Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze, Florida. He also is cofounder of the American Sports Medicine Institute, a non-profit institute dedicated to injury prevention, education and research in orthopaedic and sports medicine.

Through sports medicine fellowships, he has mentored more than 350 orthopaedic and sports medicine fellows and more than 84 primary care sports medicine fellows. Andrews also serves as a team physician or consultant to Auburn University and University of Alabama athletic programs along with the NFL’s Washington football team and the New Orleans Saints.

“This partnership will benefit the field of sports medicine and the entire youth sports sector by focusing on injury prevention and performance through a collaborative effort for sports medicine professionals and coaches across the industry,” Andrews says.

Peter Weyand’s research on the scientific basis of human performance has appeared in top-tier scientific journals and continues to influence contemporary performance training practices.

“As a researcher, I have had the opportunity to observe the scientific benefits of exercise and activity,” Weyand says. “I look forward to the opportunity to use science to inspire kids to be active, have fun and learn all at the same time.”

Prior to joining SMU in 2008, Weyand directed research at Harvard University’s Concord Field Station and the Rice University Locomotion Laboratory. His research subjects have included athletes of all ages and abilities, including some of the swiftest runners on the planet, from Michael Johnson to Usain Bolt, and numerous Paralympic champions. His work has been featured in BBC, NPR, the New York Times, ESPN and Sports Illustrated.

Weyand holds the Glenn Simmons Endowed Professorship of Applied Physiology and Biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness at SMU’s Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

“SMU’s Simmons School is dedicated to developing and understanding evidence-based best practices for childhood and human development,” said Simmons School Dean Stephanie Knight. “Our faculty members are internationally known for their strengths in the science of human performance, coaching and leadership, and STEM education. This partnership offers a new way for Simmons to impact the lives of children in a positive way.”

For more information, please visit Youth Sports Impact Partnership or contact Greg Weatherford II, SMU Simmons School’s director of community engagement and special projects, at 214-768-1779 or gweatherford@smu.edu.

 

NBC5 Interviews Greta Davis about the Psychology of Disbelief during COVID-19

 

In an NBC5 interview about why people are not grasping the current number of pandemic deaths in Texas, which are at a peak of 10,000, Clinical Associate Professor Greta Davis discussed the psychology  involved.

She explained the concepts of confirmation bias, cognitive dissonance, and people’s stress response to COVID-19.

Dr. Davis chairs the Department of Dispute Resolution and Counseling at SMU Simmons.

For more, see story below.

 

Perspective on What 10,000 COVID-Related Deaths in Texas Looks Like

 

Bing Explains to CBS News the Need for More COVID-19 Testing for Getting Back to Work

Dr. Eric Bing, Professor of Global Health, Simmons School

Professor Eric Bing, Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness, is interviewed by CBS News on what Texas needs to do for work to resume. He says more testing has to occur to establish a baseline, otherwise it will be difficult to know about a community’s health, and more COVID-19 cases will rise. According to CBS News, Texas only has tested one percent of the population to date.

An epidemiologist, Bing is a professor of global health in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development and in the Department of Anthropology in Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences at SMU. He previously served with the George W. Bush Institute as senior fellow and director of global health.

 

Professor Bing speaks to CBS News in a May 7, 2020 follow up report on the re-opening businesses during spikes in COVID-19 cases.

 

Students in Global Health Class Offer Strategies to Combat COVID-19 on Campus, Competing via ZOOM

SMU students in epidemiologist Eric Bing‘s Global Health class were studying the COVID-19 pandemic even before Bing re-tooled his annual “Battle to Save Lives” competition to focus on the coronavirus. Learn what the students recommend for suppressing the spread of COVID-19 on college campuses, and vote for the best team presentations, via Zoom from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 30.

The presentations and judging are open to the public.

Bing’s global health class is highly sought-after on the SMU campus. Participation in the class is by invitation from the esteemed global health researcher, physician and psychiatrist. The class requires debate on global health topics, completion of multiple papers and participation in a team project competition where teams of students vie to develop that best strategy to help local agencies solve health-related problems.

Bing traditionally opens the first class of the semester with a discussion on a well-known global health topic. But on Jan. 23, he tabled his original plan and instead led a discussion of a topic that few students knew much about – the coronavirus outbreak that was emerging in Wuhan, China.

“I completely re-oriented the class to study COVID-19,” he said. “Students listened to speakers from the CDC, and epidemiologists from other parts of the world. Then, all of a sudden, global health started impacting their lives. I took a class picture the last class before spring break because I was afraid the students wouldn’t be back and this would the last time we met in person.”  Like many other universities, SMU moved all its classes online after spring break.

Senior Ben DeLeon says he knew nothing about COVID-19 when Bing discussed it on the first day of class. “I would never in a million years have guessed that it would affect us the way it has,” said the applied physiology and health management major.

On Thursday, DeLeon’s team will join four other student groups to propose ways the SMU campus can mitigate the effects of the virus when students return to campus. And SMU administrators will be listening. Judges include Peter Moore, vice president for Academic Affairs and provost, ad interim,  and K.C. Mmeje. Vice president for Student Affairs.

 Details:

What: “Combating COVID-19 on Campus,” Five teams of SMU students have developed strategies to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on campus. Watch them compete and help select the winning team. Global Health student teams will join other SMU and UTD students when they enter their projects in a $5,000 grantchallenge presented by Dallas incubator  RevTech Ventures. The grant challenges students to create a low-risk campus environment that could exist after state- and local-executive orders have expired.

When: 5 to 8 pm., Thursday, April 30

Who: Eric Bing, professor of global health, SMU Simmons School of Education and Human Development. A physician and global health researcher, Bing received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School, his M.P.H and Ph. D. in epidemiology from UCLA and his M.B.A. from Duke University. Before joining SMU to head the global health program, he was director of the global health initiative at the George W. Bush Institute. Bing selects high-performing students representing a variety of majors to join the class.

Tune in: SMU.ZOOM.US/J/98455940148

 

 

Eric Bing, SMU students Join G.W. Bush in Rebuilding Zambian Clinic.

Dr.-Bing-and-the-SMU-students_0In June 2013 President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush are traveling to Livingstone, Zambia, where they will work alongside local Zambians, U.S. embassy officials and George W. Bush Institute staff to renovate a clinic that when completed, will serve as a cervical cancer screening and treatment center. Four SMU students are among the group of volunteers who are helping renovate the clinic. They are joined by Eric G. Bing, professor of global health in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development and in Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, and senior fellow and director for global health at the Bush Institute. Posted here are excerpts from their blog at bushcenter.org/blog.

Simmons Welcomes Eric Bing, New Faculty Member and Bush Institute Fellow

DALLAS (SMU) – Global health researcher Eric G. Bing has joined the SMU faculty as professor of global health in a concurrent appointment with the George W. Bush Institute. At SMU Bing has been named a professor of global health in the Applied Physiology and Wellness Department in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development and in the Department of Anthropology in Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences.  He remains the senior fellow and director of global health at the Bush Institute. Read more.