About the Presenter

BIOGRAPHY

Ron Courson currently serves as Executive Associate Athletic Director – Sports Medicine with the University of Georgia Athletic Association.  He joined the University of Georgia in May of 1995, after serving four years as Director of Rehabilitation at the University of Alabama. Prior to joining the Alabama staff in 1991, he served as an athletic trainer/physical therapist with Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. He received his undergraduate degree in education/physical education from Samford University, where he played soccer and ran track and field.  Ron performed two years of graduate work at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, and graduated with honors from the Medical College of Georgia in 1989 with a degree in physical therapy. He is a board certified clinical specialist in Sports Physical Therapy by the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties. Ron is additionally a nationally registered  advanced emergency medical technician as well as a certified strength and conditioning specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

Ron has been involved in many athletic training activities including work as an athletic trainer with the U.S. Olympic Team at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea; 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle; 1987 World University Games in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis and the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. He served as the chief athletic trainer for the 1996 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials as well as the chief athletic trainer for track and field for the 1996 Olympic Games.

Active in his profession, Ron has served as a member of the NCAA Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports committee.  He is a past president of the Southeastern Conference Sports Medicine Committee as well as chairman of the College and University Athletic Trainers' Committee of the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) and NATA liaison to the American Football Coaches Association.  During his tenure at Alabama, he served as president of the Alabama Athletic Trainers’ Association and as chair of the Alabama Board of Athletic Trainers. He served as a member of the D1A Athletic Directors Task Force on Student-Athlete Development. He currently serves on the NFL Health and Safety Committee. Ron was inducted into the Southeast Athletic Trainers’ Hall of Fame in 2011 and the NATA Hall of Fame in 2013.

Ron is an adjunct instructor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Georgia, teaching in the athletic training education program. He serves as a clinical instructor teaching physical therapy students from schools throughout the country.  He is active in sports medicine research and education, having authored a number of professional papers and text chapters.  He has served as lead or co-author with the NATA on position papers for emergency preparation, exertional heat illness, management of sudden cardiac arrest, management of head and cervical spine injuries, MRSA, and medical time out.  Ron co-chaired the national Spine Injuries in Sport Group, developing evidence-based medicine protocols for pre-hospital care of the spine injured athlete.  He developed the nation’s first Athletic Medicine Review Board, which provides independent oversight for the athletic medicine program at Georgia. Ron presents frequently at regional and national sports medicine meetings. He has testified before Congress as well as the Knight Commission and served on the White House “Stop the Bleed” Hemorrhage Control National Education Initiative.

Ron is married to the former Eileen O'Connell of Waycross, Georgia. Eileen is a physical therapist who attended the University of Georgia and the Medical College of Georgia. Ron and Eileen have four children, John, Anna, Luke and Will.