Dr Donna Duffy and head injuries among female athletes

The Women in Sport & Exercise Academic Network Podcast

In this podcast, I talk with Dr Donna Duffy about the issue of head injuries being unreported in women’s sport, her work as part of the Female BRAIN Project, and future research needs in the area of concussion among female athletes.

Dr Donna Duffy is an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and the Director of the Program for the Advancement of Girls and Women in Sport and Physical Activity at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). Dr Duffy completed her PhD at UNCG in 2007 and completed her MEd (1999) and her BSc (1996) at Boston University in Boston, MA. Dr Duffy’s lifelong, personal and professional commitment to advancing women’s health helped her define her current research agenda, focused on girls’ and women’s experiences with sport related head injuries (e.g., concussions). Dr Duffy is the Co-Director of the Female BRAIN Project at UNCG, where she leads an active research team of research collaborators from Boston University’s School of Medicine and the Female Athlete Clinic at Boston Children’s Hospital, all focused on the neurological and physiological implications of head injuries in different types of high contact and collision-based sports, including women’s tackle football, roller derby and rugby. Dr Duffy and her research team are focused on better understanding the role of sex hormones in moderating and mediating head injuries among female athletes in paediatric and post-collegiate female athlete populations. In addition to her position at UNCG, Dr Duffy served as a Visiting Research Scientist in the Department of Neurology at Boston University’s school of Medicine and as a Visiting Research Scientist in the Female Athlete Clinic at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr Duffy serves on the board of advisors for PINK Concussions and the Board of Directors at the Women's Resource Center in Greensboro NC.