Skip to main content Skip to main navigation Skip to page-level navigation Go to the Disability Resource Centre Website Go to the DRC Booking Accommodation Portal Go to the Inclusive Technology Lab Website
The University of British Columbia
UBC - A Place of Mind
The University of British Columbia Okanagan campus
UBC Okanagan News
  • Research
  • People
    • Student Profile
    • Faculty Profile
    • Alumni Spotlight
  • Campus Life
    • Campus News
    • Student Life
    • Teaching & Learning
  • Community Engagement
  • About the Collection
    • Stories for Media
  • UBCO Events
  • Search All Stories
Home / 2021 / September / 22 / UBCO partners with BrainTrust Canada for brain injury conference
Community Engagement, Community Events

UBCO partners with BrainTrust Canada for brain injury conference

BrainX creates TEDx-style event with experts in the field of concussion and brain injury

September 22, 2021

A picture of Dr. Chris Nowinski in an industrial setting

Dr. Chris Nowinski is a former football player and professional wrestler. After a concussion ended his sports career, he studied to become a neuroscientist and now researches sports-related concussions.

What: BrainTrust Canada BrainX Conference on Brain Injury.
Who: Inspired thinkers and experts in the field of concussion and brain injury
When: Wednesday, September 29, from 9 am to 4 pm PST
Where: Virtual event

UBC Okanagan’s Faculty of Health and Social Development is featuring keynote speaker Dr. Chris Nowinski in an upcoming conference on living with brain injury.

Dr. Nowinski, a former football player and professional wrestler, is co-founder and CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation. He has learned how to live, and succeed, while working through persistent symptoms after concussion.

Dr. Nowinski is a Harvard football player-turned World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) professional wrestler-turned neuroscientist. He discovered the concussion crisis the hard way. In 2003 a kick to the chin in a WWE match ended his promising career, causing post-concussion syndrome. At the time, he had already been the youngest Hardcore Champion in the history of the WWE and had been named 2002 Newcomer of the Year by WWE Magazine.

His injury was the spark that inspired him to commit his life to serving patients and families who share similar experiences, and ensuring a safer future for the next generation of athletes.

As a neuroscientist, Dr. Nowinski created the first athlete brain donation program in the world and the Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) Center at Boston University. In 2020, the brain bank had more than 1,000 brains donated and Dr. Nowinski was internationally recognized for leading the fight against concussions and CTE.

Dr. Nowinski’s TED Talk about his journey has been viewed over a million times. His story has been profiled on HBO Real Sports, ESPN’s Outside the Lines and the New York Times. He was the subject of the award-winning documentary Head Games: The Global Concussion Crisis by celebrated director Steve James.

For the September 29 BrainX conference, Dr. Nowinski is joined by five other speakers from across Canada. Their topics include the present and future of concussion prevention in sport, COVID-19 and brain injury, impacts of COVID-19 on the acquired brain injury community, the role of technology in neuroplasticity, and estate planning for individuals with disabilities.

This conference is open to the public and all researchers, doctors and health-care professionals who offer services and support for people with acquired brain injury or concussion.

More information and registration detail about the BrainTrust Canada BrainX Conference on Brain Injury can be found at: pheedloop.com/EVEJTYNGXOBPG/site/home

Media Contact

Patty Wellborn
Media Relations Strategist
University Relations

The University of British Columbia
Okanagan campus
Tel: 250 317 0293
E-mail: patty.wellborn@ubc.ca

Content type: Media Advisory
More content from: Faculty of Health and Social Development

Trending Stories

  • Opening doors for international student research
  • UBCO honours this year’s most outstanding researchers
  • Why don’t we eat turkey eggs?
  • Cutting breakfast carbs can benefit people with Type 2 ...
  • Call for Canada to braid Indigenous rights with endangered ...
All Stories
Contact Media Relations

About UBC Okanagan

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose traditional, ancestral and unceded territory the campus resides. The most established and influential global rankings all consistently place UBC in the top five per cent of universities in the world, and among the top three Canadian universities.

The Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley. For more visit ok.ubc.ca.

Discover more about UBC Okanagan

Find a Program Admissions Book a Tour UBCO Facts
UBC Okanagan Campus News, University Relations

Innovation Precinct Annexation 1 (IA1)
3505 Spectrum Court
Kelowna, BC Canada V1V 2Z1

We respectfully acknowledge the Syilx Okanagan Nation and their peoples, in whose traditional, ancestral, unceded territory UBC Okanagan is situated.

 

Search all stories

Subscribe to receive news by email

Visit UBC's Vancouver news room

Global and Admin Messages

News

Okanagan Campus

TikTok icon Linkedin icon

UBC Okanagan News
Okanagan Campus
3333 University Way
Kelowna, BC Canada V1V 1V7
Find us on
  
Back to top
The University of British Columbia
  • Emergency Procedures |
  • Terms of Use |
  • Copyright |
  • Accessibility