There are 18 members that make up the Concussion Awareness Now Coalition, a braintrust of partner organizations that together determine guidelines for concussion care, advocate for patients, and work with communities who are vulnerable to concussions.

So, we’re digging deeper into the work of these individual organizations and how they connect and enhance the advocacy and education work we do at CAN through a series of Partner Spotlights—starting with the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA).

Founded in 1950, NATA is the professional membership association for certified athletic trainers and others who support the athletic training profession. With a vision that athletic trainers be globally recognized as vital practitioners in the delivery and advancement of healthcare, NATA’s membership has grown to 45,000 members worldwide—all with a collective mission to represent, engage, and foster the continued growth and development of the athletic training profession and athletic trainers as integral healthcare providers.

We recently caught up with AJ Duffy III, MS, ATC, PT, who was recently inducted as the organization’s President in June, to learn more about NATA, their work, and why it’s so critical for them to partner with organizations like CAN to further education and awareness:

AJ, we know you’re new to your role as NATA President. What have you been focused on so far?

I’ve had a very busy couple of months since the baton handoff from Kathy Dieringer, EdD, LAT, ATC, NATA’s Past President. I’ve learned so much from her on what it means to be President of NATA—she’s been such an instrumental role model.

Since taking the helm, I’ve been all over the United States—talking with the Board of Directors of the American Orthopedic Society of Sports Medicine in Denver, giving a keynote speech to the South Carolina Athletic Trainers’ Association, being in Florida for the state’s association’s meeting, and then heading to Arkansas for our District 6 meeting. (NATA is segmented geographically into 11 districts, each of which is comprised of a district association and state associations that operate independent of NATA).

It’s been great to get out and talk to both members and non-members about what our vision is, how we’re moving the athletic trainer profession forward, and why it’s great to be part of the NATA family.

For those in our community who might not be familiar with you or your background, can you share a bit about yourself?

I earned my Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Michigan, and from there, I went to the University of Arizona, where I received my Master’s Degree. My first job out of school was at Temple University, and then I went back to earn my physical therapy certificate at Drexel University.

Around that time, the University of Michigan asked me if I wanted to work for the hockey program, and of course I did! I did that for six years and then I was approached by Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania. I took a job there as their Head Athletic Trainer and Physical Therapist, and 34 years later, I’m still here. While I’ve been at Widener, I’ve served as president of both the Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers’ Society and the Eastern Athletic Trainers’ Association.

Can you talk a little bit about NATA’s work as it relates to concussion awareness? How do you work with other partners—like us here at CAN and others—to reach your target audience?

NATA has always been deep into the research on concussion care, and we’re one of the world’s leading authorities in concussion education and research.

The challenge with concussions is that they can vary from person to person, and the question is always, “Why is this person getting better faster than me, or feeling different symptoms than I am?” This is where it helps to have partnerships with organizations who might be focusing on different aspects of concussions, or how they affect different groups of people.

For example: In late June, NATA hosted a hybrid media briefing called “The Emerging Concussion Landscape: Where We Are and Envisioning What Is Ahead” during our 75th Clinical Symposia in New Orleans. In that briefing, we had eight expert panelists from every aspect and niche of the intersection of athletic training and concussion care: the athletic trainers from the New Orleans Pelicans and New Orleans Saints, the director of the University of Michigan Concussion Center, the senior director of Global Medical & Scientific Affairs for Abbott Point of Care, the executive director and founder of PINK Concussions, an organization that focuses on concussion education and care specifically for women and girls, the senior director of Outreach and Impact from Brain Injury Association of America, and a United States Marine Corps veteran, TBI survivor and associate director of Development and External Affairs at the University of Florida Health Leon L. Haley Jr., MD Brain Wellness Program.

I mention this panel—and all of the people involved in it—because it gets to the truth about our education efforts: different people pay attention for different reasons, and they also learn in different ways. Having this panel speak to concussions each from their own unique perspective is critical to reach as many people as possible. We’re able to give people the research, what we’re seeing as concussion experts, and we’ll help translate it so that people can understand at various levels.

(Note: Abbott and the Brain Injury Association of America are co-chairs of the Concussion Awareness Now coalition, and Pink Concussions is a CAN Steering Committee member, along with NATA.)

Do you think the conversation is changing when it comes to concussions and athletes/sports? It seems like there’s been a culture of “suffering silently” or not wanting to let one’s team down when it comes to concussion care and getting treated.

Athletics is starting to realize that concussion care is truly a team approach. I always tell my athletes, “My responsibility is to make sure you get the best healthcare possible. And it’s up to you as the athlete to be honest with me about how you’re feeling because I’m going to believe what you tell me. If you lie to me, you’re lying to yourself and putting yourself further at risk. It’s also your teammates’ responsibility to recognize symptoms and tell if something’s off.”

I think people are really buying into this holistic approach to being on the lookout and taking care of one another. They understand that if someone on the team has a concussion, it’s everyone’s responsibility to make sure they know the signs.

In addition to concussion care, what other topics does NATA focus on?

Advocacy is a huge part of what we do, and 2024 has already been very good from an advocacy standpoint. Our Government Affairs team has helped three states—Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and New York—all enhance their state practice acts. This kind of licensure and standards are important because it protects the public. It gives you peace of mind, knowing that when you have an athletic trainer in your high school or working those youth sporting events, they’re qualified.

We’re also committed to enhancing the athletic training profession by increasing our own education—whether that’s through teaching or collaborating with other professions on what the current topics are. I’m heading to Washington in October to advocate for raising awareness for exertional heat illness, which of course can impact individual athletes as well as teams.

We’ve also seen our footprint expand far beyond the realm of what you think of when you think of athletic training. There’s a lot of athletic-focused activity in other professions, such as performing arts, aircraft maintenance, the Armed Forces, and police operations. NATA evaluates and helps treat a lot of people in those areas, too.

As you think about the first year of your tenure as NATA President, what are you hoping to achieve?

We’re in the process of wrapping up a three-year strategic plan that Kathy Dieringer guided the association through, so our first goal is to reevaluate that plan to see if we’re on task and where we go from here.

My next initiative is what I call Athletic Training 2050. 2050 will be the centennial year of NATA, and I want to be very intentional in looking 25 years down the road and saying, “How is healthcare changing, and how are we using all of our touchpoints—our credentialing, our partnerships, the NATA Foundation, our research—to enhance and make the profession better?”

I’m grateful that we have partners like CAN that are as committed as we are to educate other professionals as well as the general public about concussions as a really important health topic. Whatever challenges we face down the road, I’m thankful we’re able to do this work together.

To learn more about the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, visit their website: https://www.nata.org/