Meet The Under 30 Harvard Ph.D. Student Who Wants To Change The Sports Medicine Industry

This article is more than 2 years old.

The attention to both professional and amateur athlete safety has grown rapidly in the past few years. Several retired football players have stated their regret over playing. The NFL settled in court over a law suit that they were hiding information about the dangers of concussions to players, although appeals are ongoing. Sports-related concussions account for 58% of all emergency department visits for children between 8 and 13 years old, according to a report from the National Athletic Trainers' Association.

Enter Christine Baugh, a Harvard University student pursuing a doctorate in health policy with a concentration in ethics. Named one of FORBES' 30 Under 30 in sports, Christine is looking to apply her research to better the health and quality of life for athletes, being a former collegiate athlete herself. Check out the Q&A below to learn more about Christine, her research, and the state of the sports medicine industry:

Daniel Kleinman: Where does your inspiration for sports-related research come from? Was your participation with the Harvard rowing team a part of it?

Christine Baugh: From as early as I can remember I have been involved in sports. From pee-wee tee-ball all the way through being a multi-sport athlete in high school, sports were formative throughout youth and adolescence. I was fortunate to compete as a rower in college; the coaches saw promise in me despite the fact that I had never held an oar. Academics and athletics have been two main focuses throughout my life, so transitioning into sports-related research was a natural fit.

Kleinman: Your research interests seem geared towards studying youth concussions. Can you elaborate on what you have learned from your research?

Baugh: I have been fortunate to work with a number of talented colleagues on research related to many different aspects of concussion and repetitive brain injury. This includes research while I was at the Boston University Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) Center examining the potential later-life effects of repetitive brain trauma, projects with my colleague Dr. Emily Kroshus (now at the University of Washington) examining factors influencing athletes’ willingness to report concussion, examinations of concussion management plans and practices at NCAA member colleges, and evaluation of state-based concussion legislation, among others.

In recent years, tremendous progress has been made in this area of research. In short, what we know today is that there is no positive health outcome associated with brain injuries, such as concussions. The details of how many injuries over what period of time and at what ages lead to what health consequences acutely or in the long-term is, for the most part, unclear. However, there is a growing body of evidence that suggests that it is not only concussions, but also repetitive sub-concussive blows that may lead to changes in the brain. As often happens in science, more research also leads to more questions.

I think it is important to recognize that there are some questions that aren’t going to be answered scientifically. For example, although science will help define the health risks (and benefits!) associated with participation in contact sports, it is ultimately a moral and societal question as to how much risk is acceptable for children or adolescents to take on by playing these sports.

Kleinman: Is there any way the health care industry can adapt to better serve athletes?

Baugh: As I move forward in my research, I am looking forward to applying health services research methods to the athletic health care environment in order to better answer this very question.

That said, there is a lot of interesting research occurring in this area right now. For example, research that Dr. Emily Kroshus (University of Washington) and I have collaborated on has shown that the majority of athletic trainers in college sports medicine groups feel pressured to prematurely return athletes to play following a concussion. Similarly, athletes who feel pressure to return to play following a concussion from multiple stakeholders in the athletic environment (e.g., coach, parent, teammates) are more likely to under-report their concussion symptoms.

One potential solution would be to improve the incentives in order to influence athletes to take appropriate action to maintain or improve their health. Another way to improve this would be to ensure that clinicians are empowered with the unchallengeable authority to make medical decisions. A major step was just taken by the NCAA to guarantee sports medicine clinicians this authority.

Kleinman: What is next for you and your research?

Baugh: I am a second year Ph.D. student, so I will be working to complete my Ph.D. for the next two years or so. That’s the next major step for me.

In terms of next steps for my research: Some of my recent and ongoing research projects include: testing a smartphone app that tracks athletes’ physical health, mental health, and quality of life (a project sponsored by the NCAA); evaluating the concussion management practices of college sports medicine clinicians; and examining staffing patterns at college sports medicine groups. I am also part of a team of researchers working to evaluate actual and perceived risks and benefits of participating in football and then develop strategies to effectively communicate these risks to athletes.

Kleinman: Can you discuss the development of your smartphone app?

Baugh: The project is titled Ecological Momentary Assessment of Collegiate Athletes' Physical Health, Mental Health, and Quality of Life and the Potential Relationships with Contact Sustained through Sports. The goal was to use ecological momentary assessment (EMA), a form of real-time monitoring that has been widely adopted in psychology research, to understand the physical and mental health symptoms of college athletes in real time during the sports season.

In order to achieve this, I worked with to build a tool that athletes could access via their smartphones. Athletes were prompted to respond to questions about their mood, behavior, and somatic symptoms three times a day during their sports season. They were also asked questions about the type of sports activity (e.g., game, cross-training, practice) that they had most recently participated in, how much sleep they got, whether they were experiencing stress from school, sports, or social life, etc. I presented preliminary information to the NCAA in November, and they were very excited about the technology and potential results.

The data collected will be used to understand how athletes' environments (including school, sports, and social factors) influence their health, and to examine whether contact sustained through sports plays a major role in athlete health. Concussions have been a major focus, but contextualizing the role that brain trauma plays in the dynamic environment in which athletes live has been understudied. Data is currently being analyzed and research papers from this project are forthcoming.

Kleinman: What are your ultimate career goals?

Baugh: Rather than aiming for a specific position, I have always focused on doing work that I find intellectually challenging and that makes a meaningful impact on the world around me. While I don’t have a “dream job” per se, I do hope to continue pursuing work that leads to improvements in athlete health and well-being.
