Nov 28, 2017Durden to Head SSI
The NCAA Sports Science Institute announces the hiring of LaGwyn Durden as the new director of sports medicine.
Durden, a native of Jacksonville, Florida, will join the NCAA as its first director of sports medicine on January 16, 2018. A long-time member of The University of Texas at Austin sports medicine staff, Durden currently serves as UT’s associate athletics director for sports medicine, overseeing healthcare delivery to 17 Longhorns teams and coordinating women’s health and wellness programming. Additionally, she served as the athletic trainer for women’s track and field/cross country for more than 20 years.
Durden earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in exercise and sports sciences at the University of Florida and is a member of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, Southwest Athletic Trainers’ Association and Texas State Athletic Trainers’ Association. She served as a member of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games sports medicine staff and is presently a member of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Ethnic Diversity Advisory Council and Intercollegiate Council for Sports Medicine, chairs the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports and is a member of the NCAA Commission to Combat Campus Sexual Violence.
In her new role, Durden will support the NCAA Chief Medical Officer Brian Hainline and Managing Director John Parsons in leading the SSI sports medicine service line. In the oversight of this line, she will serve as the point of contact for the membership for a broad portfolio of topics including concussion, cardiac health, nutrition, overuse injuries and periodization. She will also work alongside staff from the SSI prevention and health promotion, and strategic communication and education service lines in supporting the Association’s nine strategic priorities for health and safety.
