Gregory D. Myer, PhD, FACSM, CSCS*D brings over two decades of experience to lead the activities at Emory Sports Performance And Research Center (SPARC) located at the Atlanta Falcons Flowery Branch headquarters. Dr. Myer previously supported the founding of and directed The SPORT Center and The Human Performance Laboratory in the Division of Sports Medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Dr. Myer has published over 480 medical manuscripts (h-Index Scopus: 92; Google Scholar: 123; Total Citations:>62,000) is recognized as an international leader in the field of athletic injury biomechanics, injury prevention clinical trials and human performance neuroscience. Dr. Myer is commonly an invited expert speaker to the national and international symposia. He has received numerous awards for his team’s excellence in research and is certified with Distinction and is a recent recipient of the William J. Kraemer Outstanding Sport Scientist Award by the National Strength and Conditioning Association. In past year Dr. Myer was recognized for the Hugh C. McLeod, III, M.D. Award of Excellence from the Arthritis Foundation and the Bart Mann Award for the Advancement of Sports Medicine Research from the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine. Dr. Myer is currently a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and was the recipient of Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions Outstanding Alumnus Award and Franklin College Distinguished Alumni Award as a doctoral- and undergraduate-degree recipient, respectively.

Dr. Myer is serving or has served as an investigator on several multi-million dollar federal and industry-sponsored grants in support of knee injury/concussion prevention and exercise training for performance, injury prevention, rehabilitation and health research. From a standpoint of moving the field forward with injury prevention, rehabilitation and sport performance science in the young athlete, Dr. Myer’s scientific impact is highlighted by his efforts to translate scientific discovery into innovative clinically viable tools that can be widely disseminated and benefit targeted populations. Along these lines, Dr. Myer and his team have invented aNMT (patented-augmented neuromuscular training; pronounced “animate”), a self-guided interactive biofeedback technology for improving rehabilitation and preventing injuries. aNMT biofeedback is created and driven from a user’s own real-time biomechanical (movement) data, which “animate” an interactive object that will support personalized tele-medicine of the future. The biofeedback system was awarded the Innovations funding and Third Frontier Innovation Creative Opportunity funding and has been designated as a top medical innovation targeted for commercialization accelerator programs. In line with innovations that are focused to ‘make a difference,’ Dr. Myer has led investigations into strategies to best prevent brain injury in response to head impact exposure in sports. Specifically, he has led clinical trials that supported FDA clearance for an innovative medical device designed to prevent brain injury from sports related head impact and avert these and other negative outcomes. Building upon these achievements, Dr. Myer is uniquely positioned to lead the state-of-the-art Emory Sports Performance And Research Center (SPARC) located at the Atlanta Falcons football headquarters that will serve as the nation’s leading center for research advancements and dissemination of injury prevention, rehabilitation and sport performance in young athletes.