2026 SPEAKERS
ABSTRACTS COMING SOON - MORE SPEAKERS TBC
Prof Ron Maughan
Chair of Programme Committee
Ron Maughan obtained his BSc (Physiology) and PhD from the University of Aberdeen, and was based in the Medical School there for almost 25 years before moving to England. He is now Visiting Professor in the School of Medicine at St Andrews University.
He spent much of his career trying to understand the physiological responses to exercise and the nature of fatigue, but has included many digressions along the way.
He chairs the Nutrition Working Group of the Medical Commission of the International Olympic Committee. He is a director of the IOC Diploma programs in Sports Nutrition, Sports Medicine, Sports Physical Therapies, Mental Health in Elite Sport and Drugs in Sport.
Prof Margo Mountjoy
Programme Committee
Margo received her medical education and her family medicine training at McMaster University, Canada and her sports medicine specialty degree in Ottawa, Canada. Margo received her PhD from the VU University in Amsterdam. She held the role as Consultant and the Medical and Scientific Lead at the Health & Performance Centre at the University of Guelph where she focussed her practice on promoting elite athlete care and physical activity promotion in the general population. In addition, Margo has acted as the national team physician for Synchro Canada for 20 years as well as for the National Endurance Training Centre Athletes (middle- and long-distance track athletes) and the National Triathlon & Wrestling team training centres.
Margo is a Clinical Professor in the Faculty of Family Medicine in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University, Canada where she is now the Dean of the Waterloo Regional Campus.
Margo is a member of the IOC Medical Commission’s Mental Health Working Group, which is mandated to produce evidence-based clinical tools, to inform the IOC on athlete mental health initiatives, and to provide knowledge translation advice on mental health interventions for sport stakeholders. Margo’s other area of research focus is on elite athlete health and well-being.
Dr Brian Hainline
Programme Committee
Brian Hainline, MD was the first Chief Medical Officer of the NCAA, leading national initiatives in athlete health, safety, research, and performance for over a decade. He serves on the USTA Board of Directors (Immediate Past President), and is Vice President of the International Tennis Federation. A Clinical Professor of Neurology at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, he also served 16 years as Chief Medical Officer of the US Open and has represented major global panels including the Concussion in Sport Group and the USA Football Medical Advisory Panel. He was co-chair of the International Olympic Committee Summit on Pain Management in Elite Athletes, and co-chair of both the first and second IOC Summits on Mental Health in Elite Athletes. Dr. Hainline has authored or co-authored nine books, more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, and has received numerous honors from sports federations and halls of fame, establishing him as a leading voice in sports medicine, neurology, and innovative health performance solutions.
Dr Claudia Reardon
Programme Committee
Dr. Claudia Reardon holds an MD degree from the University of Wisconsin (USA) School of Medicine and Public Health, where she also completed psychiatry residency training. She is a Professor at the University of Wisconsin and serves as consulting sports psychiatrist for University of Wisconsin collegiate athletes. Dr. Reardon has served as Co-Chair of the International Olympic Committee’s Work Group on Mental Health in Elite Athletes and Co-Directs the IOC’s Diploma and Certificate Programs on Mental Health in Elite Sport. Dr. Reardon also has served on the International Society for Sports Psychiatry (ISSP) Board of Directors since 2010, currently serving as its Education Committee Chair, and on the National Football League’s Comprehensive Mental Health and Wellness Committee. She has published and presented widely on a number of sports psychiatry related topics and is Editor of the Book “Mental Health Care for Elite Athletes” and Co-Editor of the book “Clinical Sports Psychiatry: An International Perspective.
Prof Vincent Gouttebarge (Online)
Programme Committee
Prof. dr. Vincent Gouttebarge is a former professional footballer who played 14 seasons in France and The Netherlands. He is Extraordinary Professor at the Section Sports Medicine of the University of Pretoria and based at the Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine department of the Amsterdam University Medical Centers. He is also Medical Director at FIFPRO (Fédération Internationale des Associations de Footballeurs Professionnels). Prof. dr. Gouttebarge’s work focusses on a wide range of sports medicine domains being relevant in professional sports (emphasis on football), striving to protect and promote the physical, mental and social health of active and former professional athletes. He is Chair of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Mental Health Working Group, co-Director of the IOC Programs on Mental Health in Elite Sport, member of the Heading Expert Group of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), member of the Medical Committee of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), member of the Medical Committee of the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF), member of the Medical Expert Group of the French Professional Football League (LFP), member of the Concussion in Para Sport (CIPS) group, member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Mental Health Working Group and member of the South African Sports Medicine Association (SASMA). Prof. dr. Gouttebarge is also member of the Editorial Board of the South African Journal of Sports Medicine.
Prof Alan Currie
Programme Committee
Dr Currie is founder and a former chair of the UK Royal College of Psychiatrists Sports Psychiatry Group. In 2019 he joined the International Olympic Committee mental health working group and was appointed to the Mental Health Expert Panel of the UK Sports Institute. He is former chair of the Scientific Committee of the International Society for Sports Psychiatry. He serves on TUE committees and is a psychiatric advisor to UK Anti-Doping (UKAD), the International Testing Agency (ITA) and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). He is a psychiatrist in a specialist treatment and research centre in Newcastle and visiting professor at the University of Sunderland. His research interests include sports psychiatry, mood disorders, recovery and social inclusion. He has published extensively in all these areas including editing a highly commended handbook of Sports Psychiatry (2016) and a collection of Case Studies in Sports Psychiatry (2020).
Dr Amanda Gatherer
Amanda is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist with over 30 years’ experience of working within mental health services in the UK National Health Service. Amanda has also been working as a Clinical Psychologist in elite sport since 2007 and has worked across a range of organisations providing clinical consultation, education and strategic advice to enhance mental health provision for high performance athletes.
Amanda is the Paralympic Lead for the Mental Health Expert Panel at the UK Sports Institute and has attended the Tokyo, Beijing (winter) and Paris Paralympic Games as the Mental Health Lead for Paralympics GB. Amanda also leads on mental health for the English and Wales Cricket Board supporting both the men’s and women’s international programmes, alongside providing Clinical Psychology services for Worcestershire County Cricket.Amanda is currently co-leading, with colleagues at the University of Birmingham, an international collaborative research project to develop best practice guidance for the provision of mental health support to paralympic athletes within and around the Games environment and she will be talking more about this at Promise 2026.
Dr Brook Choulet
Brook Choulet, MD, known as The Performance Psychiatrist®, is a board-certified sports and performance psychiatrist and President of the American Board of Sports and Performance Psychiatry. As founder of Choulet Performance Psychiatry®, a multi-state concierge group practice, she serves elite athletes, executives, and high-performing professionals.
Dr. Choulet is a preferred provider for the NFLPA, NBPA, USSF, and USOPC mental health registries, serves as the contracted sports psychiatrist for ASU Sun Devil Athletics, and is the Lead Consulting Psychiatrist for the Professional Tennis Players Association and for USA Team Handball. She previously worked as a Consulting Team Psychiatrist for the NBA Phoenix Suns and WNBA Phoenix Mercury.
A frequent media contributor, Dr. Choulet has contributed articles to TIME, The Washington Post, Sports Business Journal, Forbes, and Psychology Today in addition to expert insights in USA Today and more. In addition, she regularly appears on television and at industry conferences to speak on athlete mental health, performance psychology, and mental wellness in elite populations. She has advised professional teams, athletes, and organizations on building comprehensive mental health and performance programs.
Dr Carey Wheelhouse
Dr. Carey Wheelhouse is the director of health promotion in the NCAA Sport Science Institute. In this role, Carey oversees the SSI health promotion service line, serving as the membership point of contact on topics including mental health, substance misuse prevention and harm reduction, interpersonal violence prevention, sleep and student-athlete health promotion.
Prior to joining SSI in 2022, Carey was the director of clinical assessment and assistant professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center Division of PA Education. As a nationally certified PA, Carey has over 10 years of team-based patient-care experience. She has provided care to a broad range of athletes, including collegiate athletes, in orthopedics and sports medicine settings and she also practiced in behavioral health.
Carey earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and her master’s degree in PA studies from the University of South Dakota. Carey completed an executive fellowship in addiction medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where she also earned her PhD in health promotion.
Dr Carla Edwards
Dr. Edwards is an internationally accomplished Sports Psychiatrist with extensive experience in program development, advocacy, publication, and management of athlete mental health and wellness. Her international work focuses on collaboration with global organizations to advance knowledge and management of mental health conditions of athletes and improve the sport environment. Her clinical practice focuses on youth, collegiate, elite and professional athletes. Based in Canada, she works with several universities and professional teams and is a consultant for the National Hockey League, National Basketball Association, Women’s National Basketball Association, and National Lacrosse League. She is the immediate past President of the International Society for Sports Psychiatry, the Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Academy of Sports and Exercise Medicine, and the mental health lead for the Medical Experts Group of the IOC Health, Medical and Science Commission. Her areas of expertise include safeguarding, risk assessment, and mental health-related removal from and return to sport.
Dr Cindy Miller Aron
Cindy Miller Aron, LCSW, CGP, FAGPA, is a private practice provider/consultant to professional athletes, dancers based in Chicago, IL. USA. She is an Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine/Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
Ms. Aron is a national and international advocate for the provision of mental health services in sport. She is a co-founder of the Alliance for Social Workers in Sport, is a fellow in the American Group Psychotherapy Association. She is a co-coordinator of Association for Applied Sports Psychology eating disorders special interest group, Outreach co-chair for the International Society for Sports Psychiatry.
Ms. Aron was appointed to the 2013 NCAA Inaugural Mental Health Task Force, 2016 NCAA Sexual Violence and Prevention Summit, NCAA Governors’ Commission to Combat Sexual Violence, and in 2018 NCAA Sexual Violence Prevention Think Tank. In 2019 she was appointed to the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine Task Force on Sexual Violence in Sport. She has been a consultant to the US Center for Safe Sport. In 2018 and 2025 Ms. Aronwas appointed to the International Olympic Committee Consensus Group on Mental Health in Elite Athletes as a content and interventional expert on trauma in sport and faculty for the International Olympic Committee Diplomate Program. She has published numerous articles and chapters on the interface of mental health and athletics.
Dr David McDuff
David R. McDuff, M.D. is the long-time sports psychiatrist for the Baltimore Orioles (1996-present) and Baltimore Ravens (1996-2013) and more recently the performance medicine physician for the Indianapolis Colts (2015-2018). He is the author of the 2012 book “Sports Psychiatry: Strategies for Life Balance & Peak Performance” and has 70 publications on addiction and sports psychiatry. Since 2018 he has served as a member of the International Olympic Committee’s Mental Health Consensus Panel & Working Group. He is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the founding Director of its Division of Addiction Research and Treatment and Addiction Medicine and Psychiatry Fellowship Programs. He is board certified in General, Addiction, and Sports Psychiatry and a retired Army Colonel with command, combat and special operations experience.
Dr Deena Casiero
Dr. Deena Casiero is currently the NCAA chief medical officer and senior vice president of the Sport
Science Institute. She is a member of the senior staff and serves as a direct advisor on health and
safety matters to the NCAA president, NCAA leadership and NCAA members. She oversees the
operation and management of the Sport Science Institute and works collaboratively with the NCAA
Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports.
Prior to joining the NCAA, she served as the senior associate athletic director for sports medicine
and head team physician at UConn. Prior to that, she was the head team physician and medical
director at Hofstra University, served as the tournament physician and director of player medical
services for the U.S. Open Tennis Championships and worked as the assistant team physician for
the NHL’s New York Islanders. She began her career with an undergraduate degree in athletic
training and worked as an athletic trainer at the Division III level, laying the foundation for her
lifelong commitment to sports medicine.
Dr Erin Hoare
Erin Hoare is Associate Professor of Neurodiversity and Mental Health, 2026 Fulbright Scholar, Sir Winston Churchill Fellow, psychologist, and dual code former professional athlete (netball, Australian-rules Football) with a multidisciplinary background in mental health, primary prevention, and sport. She is an Associate Professor at the University of New England where she currently acts as Acting Director, Manna Institute – a mental health research institute of over >200 affiliate researchers. She is Honorary Principle Fellow, University of Melbourne with the Neurodiversity Project Team, and Honorary Fellow at Institute for Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Translation, Deakin University. She holds a PhD (Deakin University), Master of Educational Psychology (University of Melbourne) and Master of Public Health (University of Sydney). Erin completed postdoctoral training at Peterhouse, University of Cambridge, and has authored over 50 peer‑reviewed publications. She is a member of the Lancet Psychiatry Physical Health Commission. Erin also contributes to several boards, advisory groups, and public forums. In clinical practice, Erin is dedicated to neurodiversity‑affirming, culturally responsive, and trauma‑informed approaches. Outside academia and psychology, she previously played professional Australian rules football in the AFLW for Melbourne and Geelong, and netball for Melbourne Vixens and NSW Swifts. She lives and works on Wadawurrung Country, Victoria, Australia.
Dr Jessica Bartley
Joining the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) in 2020, Dr. Jess Bartley (she/her) is the Senior Director of Psychological Services – where she oversees mental health and mental performance for Team USA. Before the USOPC, Dr. Bartley was employed at the Eating Disorder Center of Denver where she worked with colleagues to develop a treatment program for athletes with eating disorders. She has served collegiate student athletes’ mental health and performance needs at the University of Denver, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the Ohio State University. She has also been contracted for mental performance and mental health for several National Governing Bodies in the United States as well as some professional sports team in Colorado. She is a licensed psychologist, clinical social worker and a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC®) with the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). Her areas of expertise include mental health with athletes, specifically depression, anxiety, eating disorders and body image, and substance use, as well as performance anxiety, motivation, and sport transition/retirement after sport.
Prof Jorunn Sundgot-Borgen
Jorunn Sundgot-Borgen is a Professor of Physical Activity and Health at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences (NIH), affiliated with the Institute of Sports Medicine. She also serves as the Head of the Oslo Research Center for Women’s Sport, Physical Activity and Health (ORC-WSPAH) at NIH. She obtained her PhD from NIH in 1993 and has been a visiting scholar at Yale University and a visiting professor at UC Berkeley.
From 1995 to 2009, she led the Nutrition Department at the Norwegian Olympic Training Center and has held leadership positions within the Nordic eating disorder organization. She is a member of expert groups for the Norwegian Women’s Public Health Association and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), focusing on body composition, Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs), and mental health.
Her main research interests include the athletes’ health and specifically prevention and treatment of eating disorders, sports nutrition, REDs, elite athletes and pregnancy, and sexual harassment and abuse in sport.
With more than 250 scientific publications, Professor Sundgot-Borgen has played a pivotal role in advancing the field of women’s health in sport, particularly related to athletes and eating disorders. In recognition of her outstanding contributions to women’s health research — especially her work on athletes and eating disorders — she was awarded the King’s Medal of Merit in 2025.
She is an ACSM Fellow and has received an Honorary Fellowship from the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine (FSEM) at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI). She has also been awarded the Norwegian Research Council’s Excellence in Science Communication Award and received the Women’s Health Research Award in 2022, founded by the Norwegian Women’s Public Health Association.
In addition to her academic work, she provides guidance to elite athletes and coaches regarding REDs, eating disorders, pregnancy, and safeguarding in sport. Earlier in her career, she was a member of the Norwegian national gymnastics team and later served as a national team coach.
Dr Lindsay Shaw
Dr. Lindsay Shaw is the Director of Sport Psychology for the Cleveland Guardians baseball team. She oversees the mental health and mental performance needs for players and baseball staff in the organization. She previously spent a decade as a sport psychologist and psychophysiologist for the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, where she was responsible for meeting the performance and clinical needs of both summer and winter US National Team athletes. She utilizes brain computer interfaces, brainwave stimulation, sleep assessments, heart rate variability interventions, and other novel approaches in her work with elite athletes. Her Master’s and Doctoral degrees are from Boston University in Counseling Psychology, with a specialization in sport performance. She is a licensed psychologist, and is board certified in biofeedback and neurofeedback by BCIA, and received postdoctoral training in cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia at UPenn. More recently, she completed advanced training in psychodynamic psychotherapy and a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychopharmacology. She has held various consulting appointments including with a Fortune 10 company, special operations team and concierge health and wellness group. She and has authored peer reviewed journals, book chapters, and other publications.
Dr Marcia Faustin
Marcia (Marcy) Faustin, MD, is an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California, Davis. She earned her medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and completed her residency and Sports Medicine Fellowship at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Faustin has over a decade of experience in medical education, teaching learners across multiple academic levels.
She serves as co-head team physician and medical director for UC Davis Division I Athletics and as team physician for Sacramento Republic FC. She served as co-head team physician for the USA Gymnastics Women’s National Team, supporting athletes at international competitions, including the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Dr. Faustin is a recognized leader in athlete mental health, with extensive invited keynote presentations, peer-reviewed publications, and contributions to clinical guidelines and policy within sports medicine organizations, including as a prior member of the USAG Athlete Health & Wellness Committee. Her work emphasizes a biopsychosocial approach to care, particularly in the setting of mental health, Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport, and injury prevention.
As a Hall of Fame athlete in both high school and Division I track and field at Loyola University Chicago, she is committed to advancing comprehensive, lifelong athlete care.
Dr Mark Allen
Dr. Mark Allen is a double board-certified psychiatrist specializing in child, adolescent, and adult mental health. He completed his medical education and general psychiatry residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, followed by a child psychiatry fellowship at New York-Presbyterian Hospital of Columbia and Cornell. He is the Founder of Peak Sports Psychiatry
Dr. Allen has pursued extensive, sport-specific training, including the International Olympic Committee’s Diploma in Mental Health in Elite Sport, the FIFA Diploma in Football Medicine, and the International Society for Sports Psychiatry’s Certificate of Additional Training in Sports Psychiatry. He currently serves as Chairman of the American Board of Sports & Performance Psychiatry (ABSPP) and sits on the editorial board for Sports Psychiatry: The Journal of Sports & Exercise Psychiatry.
Dr Paul Gorczynski
Paul Gorczynski (he/him), PhD, HCPC, CPsychol, AFBPsS, is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow with the British Psychological Society and a Registered Practitioner Psychologist with The Health and Care Professions Council in the United Kingdom. He works as an Associate Professor of Sport and Exercise Psychology and Mental Health at the University of Greenwich. He is a faculty member on the IOC Diploma in Mental Health in Elite Sport. His research expertise lies in the promotion of mental health within clinical, educational, and elite sport settings. Since 2021, he has co-developed and co-delivered the Mental Health in Sport training programme and the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity in Sport and Exercise Psychology training programme for the Chartered Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences. From 2021 to 2022, Paul served as a Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology Fellow for the Women and Equalities Committee in UK Parliament, addressing LGBTQIA+ mental health service access and use during COVID-19. Paul also consults on ethics within the NHS Health Research Authority, where he chairs the London-Bloomsbury Research Ethics Committee. In 2018 and 2025, Paul was an expert panel member for the IOCconsensus statement on mental health in elite athletes.
Prof Rosemary Purcell
Professor Rosemary (Rosie) Purcell is the Head of Elite Sports and Mental Health research at the Centre for Youth Mental Health at the University of Melbourne and Orygen, Australia’s national centre for early intervention in mental health. She trained in and is a registered psychologist.
Rosie’s primary research interests are understanding mental health challenges in elite sport and developing optimal strategies to improve mental health in high-performance sporting environments. She is an external scientific advisor on mental health to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and a member of the IOC Expert Consensus Group on Elite Athlete Mental Health and the Expert Consensus Group on Youth Elite Athlete Development. As the Mental Health Consultant to Cricket Australia, she developed its Mental Health Strategy for high-performance Cricket.
Rosie has published 2 books and over 170 peer-reviewed publications, and has authored more than 30 mental health reports for various Australian sports.
Scott Sloan
Scott has over 15 years of experience in sport, mental health, and international development. He is currently the Senior Project Manager for Mental Health at the International Olympic Committee in Switzerland, where he has worked since 2022. Scott led the team culminating in the IOC’s Mental Health Action Plan, the IOC’s strategic roadmap on the topic. Previously, he founded and led School of Hard Knocks South Africa, an award winning sport-for-development organization serving over 3000 South African youth. He has worked across South Africa, Zambia, and the USA in various nonprofit and development roles. He holds a Master of Science in International Development from Lund University and a BA in History and Politics from Queen’s University Belfast.
Prof Therese Fostervold Mathisen
Professor Therese Fostervold Mathisen is a sports dietitian and exercise physiologist affiliated with Østfold University of Applied Sciences and the Oslo Research Center for Women’s Sport, Physical Activity and Health at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences. She currently serves as President of the Norwegian Society for Eating Disorders and a board member of the Nordic Society for Eating Disorders.
She earned her PhD in Sport Science in 2018, during which she developed and evaluated a novel and successful treatment approach for eating disorders—Physical Exercise and Dietary Therapy (PED-t)—under the supervision of Professor Jorunn Sundgot-Borgen. Professor Mathisen’s research focuses on exercise as medicine, eating disorder prevention and treatment, and female athlete health, including Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs).She was the lead author of the International Olympic Committee’s supplementary consensus paper on best practice recommendations for body composition considerations in sport.
Mathisen is experienced with DXA measurements and is ISAK Level 1 accredited. She is an active contributor to research dissemination across academic and public platforms – an effortrecognized with the Østfold University of Applied Sciences Annual Research Dissemination Award (2021) and the International Society of Strength and Conditioning Applied Science Award (2025). In addition to her academic and clinical expertise, she has personal experience as a national-level (Tier 3) athlete in both volleyball and powerlifting.
Tramaine El-Amin
Tramaine EL-Amin currently serves as the Vice President for Mental Health First Aid USA® at the National Council for Mental Wellbeing in Washington, D.C. In this role, she leads the strategic growth of a mental health social enterprise in the United States. As a certified national trainer and social impact executive, EL-Amin has contributed to more than 4.5 million individuals being equipped to recognize signs and symptoms related to mental health, substance use and suicide across the country. Prior to her tenure at the National Council, she led a portfolio of health initiatives at the City of Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS), a publicly held behavioral health managed care organization. EL-Amin’s efforts focused on public health promotion, community engagement, legislative change management, and improving access to mental health services for more than 1.5 million youth and adults throughout Philadelphia.