5 Questions with Dr. Chad Asplund — President of the AMSSM

Dr. Chad Asplund, President of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (2018 – 2019)

The 2019 annual meeting of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) commences in Houston April 12 and ends April 17.  Like many of hundreds of sport and exercise medicine (SEM) specialists around the world we’ve been looking forward to the event for months.

This meeting represents one of the high points in our field of SEM, a venue for sharing much of the most current, relevant, evidence-based information in our field.  And, as for most such meetings of a medical society, it also represents something of a shareholder meeting for AMSSM members (I happen to be one, as are many of the members of CJSM’s editorial board):  it’s a time for the society to gather and, perhaps change bylaws, discuss finances, introduce new executive and board members, and say good-bye and thank you to the service given by those individuals who are stepping down from such posts.

One of those individuals in any society is the president, the head dude/dudette. We have traditionally touched bases with the outgoing AMSSM president prior to the annual meeting, and this year we had the chance to catch up with Chad Asplund MD, MPH on the ‘year that was’ for AMSSM.

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1. CJSM: We have to begin by asking you about your year as President of the AMSSM. What were your major challenges this year?  What were your high points?

Dr. Asplund (CA): The high points of the year were the finalization of the marketing and branding strategy with a new logo, member seal and messaging.  It was also great to meet and to hear from so many of our members throughout the year.  It was a humbling, but rewarding term as president and I am honored to have been selected.  There were no major challenges, other than media requests regarding the USA Gymnastics (Larry Nassar) and Ohio State (Richard Strauss) cases and the Maryland incident involving the death of Jordan McNair.

2. CJSM: Can you tell the readers a bit about your ‘day job’ – what do you do when you are not busy with AMSSM duties?

(CA): I am currently the Director of Athletic Medicine and Head Team Physician at Georgia Southern University.  In this role, I provide care to 450 NCAA Division 1 student athletes and 50-75 cheer athletes, as well as provide full service medical services to my panel of college students.  I am also the medical director of the athletic training program where I give several lectures and oversee the clinical training of our athletic training students.  Currently I am mentoring several graduate students and we are doing research on sleep and athletic performance.

3. CJSM: We follow the AMSSM [@theAMSSM] on Twitter and enjoy the organization’s posts. If you were to compose a 280 character tweet to tell the world about AMSSM, what would it say?

CA: @theAMSSM We Understand You – we can help keep you in the game and get you back into the activities that are your passion.  We are experts in the care of active patients at all levels!

4. CJSM: You were one of the first AMSSM members to participate in the organization’s ‘Traveling Fellowship.’ We have heard so much about this initiative from CJSM editors Jim MacDonald and Jason Zaremski, who have participated in this fellowship as well. Can you briefly share your thoughts on the value of this unique opportunity.

CA: The traveling fellowship has been one of the most exciting things that AMSSM has done since I have been a member.  I am honored to have been selected to go to Australia.  The experience was an unbelievable experience to spend time with world sports medicine leaders Peter Brukner, Peter Fricker and John Orchard, as well as the ability to see how sports medicine is practiced in another country and in another system.  The fellowship has spawned many opportunities for collaboration and I will forever remember the friendships created.

5. CJSM: You have been an author in our journal on several occasions. What are your principal research interests and do you have any projects in the works we may be seeing published or presented in the near future?

CA: My research interests are (and have been) exercise related collapse, sudden death in sports, and I am currently studying the impact of sleep on athletic performance.  We are looking at how sleep interventions affect the performance of athletes in several realms – mental health, task performance, unforced errors and quality of life.

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Thank you Dr. Asplund.  We’ll see you all at AMSSM 2019, but if for some reason you can’t attend be sure to follow the #AMSSM19 for all the information that will be coming out of Houston.