2025 SPEAKERS
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, is a neurologist who specializes in pain medicine and sports neurology. In addition to his clinical duties, he has assumed many roles in sport for the past 35 years, including setting the foundation for drug testing in sports through his groundbreaking book Drugs and the Athlete; working as ringside physician in boxing; and serving as Chief Medical Officer of the US Open Tennis Championships for 16 years. Brian has been an active voice in presenting sport as a public good: he was the NCAA’s first Chief Medical Officer from 2013 through May 2024. In this role, he reshaped the professional and amateur National Governing Body approach to sport, building a collaborative network that included sports medicine and scientific organizations, NCAA member schools, and the US Department of Defense. He is a leading international voice in both pain medicine and mental health in sport and co-chaired the International Olympic Committee summits that addressed these issues. Brian is a member of the Concussion in Sport Group and is coauthor of the 6th International Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport. He is author/co-author of over 100 academic papers and book chapters, and co- editor of Sports Neurology – a comprehensive textbook that describes the interplay between sport and the nervous system. He is Clinical Professor of Neurology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Brian is Immediate Past President of the US Tennis Association, and Vice President of the International Tennis Federation.
Dr Claudia Reardon (Online)
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
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 2008, and has worked across a range of organisations providing clinical consultation, education and strategic advice to enhance mental health provision for high performance athletes.
Currently Amanda is a member of the Mental Health Expert Panel for the UK Sports Institute and is the lead for mental health for the English and Wales Cricket Board supporting both the men’s and women’s international programmes. Amanda has attended the past three Paralympic Games as the mental health lead for Paralympics GB, and advises on mental health research and strategy for Paralympic sports in collaboration with the UKSI, British Paralympic Association, Loughborough and Birmingham Universities.
Dr/Prof Andrew Murray
Andrew works as the Chief Medical and Scientific Officer for the DP World Tour, Ladies European Tour, and Ryder Cup Europe responsible for their global health strategy, research and development and operational delivery. He provides scientific support to The R&A, IMG, and has led medical care at European and World Championships in Athletics, as well as having provided care at Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games. He has authored >130 peer reviewed publications, and is associate professor at Liverpool John Moore’s, consultant to Sport and Exercise, University of Edinburgh and member of the UK Collaborating Centre for Injury and Illness Prevention. He is an ex-international distance runner. Andrew was awarded the UK Prime Minister’s Point of Light award, and previously worked promoting sport and physical activity in the government health and sport departments.
Dr Carla Edwards
Dr. Carla Edwards is a Canadian Sports Psychiatrist whose practice focuses on the treatment of mental disorders and psychological struggles in athletes. In her clinical practice, Dr. Edwards supports athletes from many National Sport Organizations, professional sports teams, Canadian Universities, NCAA, and youth sports organizations. She is the team psychiatrist for the Hamilton Tiger Cats (Canadian Football League) and Toronto Rock (National Lacrosse League), and the company psychiatrist for the National Ballet of Canada. She is a passionate advocate for the protection of athletes and safeguarding of the sport experience. Carla is the President of the International Society for Sports Psychiatry and the Secretary-Treasurer for the Canadian Academy of Sports and Exercise Medicine (CASEM).
Dr. Edwards is active in the academic setting as an Assistant Clinical Professor with the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University, Chair of Student Progress for the undergraduate MD Program, and Competency Committee Chair for postgraduate psychiatry. She has published and presented extensively on various topics in Sports Psychiatry and is committed to enhancing mental health literacy among sport personnel. A particular interest for Dr. Edwards is refining practices related to athlete participation in sports when mental health symptoms and disorders are present.
Dr Carrie McCrea
Dr Carrie McCrea is a Sports and Exercise Medicine Consultant with an interest in Mental Health in Performance Sport. She works with the Sport Scotland Institute of Sport, where she leads on a range of sports and acts as Clinical Lead for Mental Health. Dr McCrea holds additional roles in swimming, motorsport, and football.
Dr McCrea has broad experience in developing and implementing mental health strategies in Commonwealth and Olympic Games settings and recently held the role of Mental Health Lead for Team GB for the Paris Olympic Games.
Dr David McDuff
David R. McDuff, M.D., is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, USA and the founding Director of its Division of Addiction Research and Treatment and Addiction Psychiatry & Medicine Fellowship Programs. He has practiced sports and performance psychiatry for 30 years working with athletes and teams at all competitive levels including Olympic (Indian National Archery Team), Professional (MLB-Orioles, NFL-Ravens, Colts), Collegiate, and High School/Club. In addition, he is a member of the International Olympic Committee’s Mental Health Consensus Panel, Working Group and Diploma Course Advisory Board and a Founding Board Member of the American Board of Sports and Performance Psychiatry, an independent, non-profit organization established in 2024 to credential and provide mentoring opportunities for sports and performance psychiatrists who demonstrate excellence in the comprehensive care of athletes and performers, fostering mental well-being and optimal performance. He is the author of “Sports Psychiatry: Strategies for Life Balance & Peak Performance” (APA Press, 2012) that has been translated into Korean and Portuguese and The Mental Skills of Expert Archers and Coaches (D+T Peak Performance, 2024).
Dr Emma Kavanagh
Dr Emma Kavanagh is an Associate Professor in Sport Psychology and Safe Sport and an HCPC-registered Sport Psychologist from Bournemouth University, UK. Emma’s research focusses on interpersonal violence in sport, safe sport and athlete welfare. Most recently her work has introduced the topic of online abuse in sport, advancing understanding of the specific threats online spaces pose to athletes and wider sporting communities and exploring how to safeguard online spaces which increasingly play a pivotal role in (elite) sporting experiences. Emma was a member of the recent IOC Expert Consensus group on interpersonal violence and safeguarding in sport.
Emma sits on the Chartered Association of Sport and Exercise Scientists (CASES) Integrity Advisory Group and was recently awarded a CASES Fellowship for services to the sport and exercise sciences. As a sport psychologist and a chartered sport and exercise scientist, Emma has supported athletes and teams at major sporting events including the Commonwealth, Olympic, and Paralympic Games, and brings extensive experience of working within elite performance environments.
Dr Fiona Wilson
Dr Fiona Wilson is a clinical psychologist with a special interest in mental health and psychological problems related to sports performance. She has a strong background in providing psychological services to elite athletes, coaches, national teams and sporting organisations both in the UK and internationally. Her role is identifying and treating mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression, that can affect both performance and personal life as well as supporting athletes with the unique challenges they face including competition-related stress, injury rehabilitation, team dynamics and career transitions. She also works with neurodiverse athletes, supporting them to thrive in elite sport.
In addition to her direct clinical work, Fiona is the founder and Clinical Director of The Edinburgh Practice, an award-winning multidisciplinary mental health and neurodiversity centre of excellence situated in central Edinburgh. Established in 2017, the vision was to create a centre of excellence where individuals and families could access all the support they needed under one roof. Eight years later, with a team of over 40 highly skilled clinicians including Clinical Psychologists, Psychiatrists and Allied Health Professionals, the practice operates to the highest clinical standards providing services to people across Scotland.
Prof Jorunn Sundgot-Borgen
Jorunn Sundgot-Borgen is a professor of Physical Activity and Health at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences (NSSS) within the Institute for Sports Medicine. She obtained her PhD from NSSS in 1993. She has served as 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 in the Nordic eating disorder organization. She is a member of expert groups for the Norwegian Women’s Public Health Association and the IOC, focusing on body composition, REDs, and mental health.
Her main areas of interest are prevention and treatment of eating disorders in athletes, perfectionism, nutrition and the female athlete triad/REDs, elite athletes and pregnancy and sexual harassment and abuse.
She is an ACSM Fellow and has been awarded an “Honorary Fellowship” from the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine (FSEM) at Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI), she has received the Norwegian Research Council’s Excellence in Science Communication award and she was honored with the Women’s Health Research Award in 2022, founded by the Norwegian Women’s Public Health Association.
With over 220 scientific publications, Jorunn also provides guidance to elite athletes and coaches regarding REDs, eating disorders, pregnancy and sexual harassment.
Jorunn has been a member of the national gymnastics team and later served as a coach for the national team.
Dr Kirstie Anderson
Consultant Neurologist and Sleep Specialist in Newcastle and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer, Newcastle University
Dr Anderson is the neurology lead within the Paediatric and Adult Sleep Service in Newcastle. She lectures widely on sleep medicine and developed an annual insomnia training course, now in it’s 11th year. Research interests include the role of sleep disturbance in mental health problems and neurodegeneration, digital health therapies and and the use of big data to assess sleep. As the sleep lead behind the award winning SleepWell project, the safe introduction of protected sleep for in-patients was developed in one of the UKs largest mental health trusts.
She featured in a 2019 TEDx talk, appeared on the BBC’s “Goodnight Britain”, and was the clinical lead for the digital insomnia CBT therapy programme at www.sleepstation.org.uk. This was the first online insomnia therapy available across NHS England. She has authored over 120 research papers, reviews and book chapters on all aspects of sleep medicine alongside the 2nd edition of “How to Beat Insomnia and Other Sleep Problems”.
She is the Past President of the Sleep Medicine section of the Royal Society of Medicine, was the insomnia lead on a Department of Health expert working group developing consensus guidelines for the IAPT programme. She is an editor for the the ACNR journal, was part of the NHS England outpatient transformation programme in sleep medicine and is an honorary medical advisor to the DVLA. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kirstie-Anderson
Kirsty Burrows
Kirsty Burrows is Associate Director of Health, Medicine and Science at the International Olympic Committee, overseeing the IOCs commitment, strategy and approach to addressing interpersonal violence in and through sport and the protection and promotion of mental health and well-being across the Olympic Movement.
A recognised authority in athlete welfare, Kirsty co-authored the IOC Mental Health in Elite Athletes Toolkit (2021) and authored the IOC Safeguarding Toolkit (2017). She has contributed to key academic works, including the Routledge International Handbook on Athlete Welfare, and served as Academic Director for the IOC Certificate: Safeguarding Officer in Sport programme (2021–2024). She represents the IOC on the Board of the International Safeguards for Children in Sport and is a member of the Council of Europe’s Pool of Experts in Safe Sport.
Kirsty holds a first-class honours degree in Physiotherapy and an international master’s in Management, Law, and Humanities of Sport, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Athlete Human Rights at Canterbury Christ Church University.
Lauren Cleave
Lauren obtained her BSc (Sport & Exercise Science) and MSc (Sport & Exercise Psychology) from the University of Portsmouth in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Lauren’s master’s dissertation was entitled, ‘Carefree enjoyment – can you tick that box?’ A story of thriving following experiences of abusive coaching in gymnastics and is published in Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise, and Health.
Lauren is currently in the final year of her PhD at the University of Bath supported by the UK Sports Institute, where her thesis is entitled ‘Better Understanding the Relationship between Injury and Mental Health in Elite Athletes’. Lauren has presented her work at national and international conferences, such as the UKSI Mental Health Conference and the 7th IOC World Conference on Prevention of Injury and Illness in Sport.
Outside of her PhD, Lauren has also worked on a research project with Podium Analytics exploring the social, emotional, and psychological impact of sports injuries among young people. She regularly teaches undergraduate students at Bath covering topics related to the psychology of injury and research methods.
Her research interests include athlete mental health and well-being, injury, and performance.
Dr Margot Putukian
Dr. Putukian board certified in Internal Medicine and has subspecialty certification in Sports Medicine. She is the former Director of Athletic Medicine/Head Team Physician at Princeton University (2004-2021). She started with MLS in 2015, and in 2018 took the role as Chief Medical Officer.
Dr. Putukian is a charter member of the AMSSM serving as President in 2004-2005. She serves on the Board for the Concussion in Sport Group (CISG) and serves on several committees: NFL General Medical, NFL Head Neck & Spine, FA Research Task Force, IOC Mental Health (MH) Working Group and USOPC MH Task Force. She has previously chaired the USA Lacrosse Sports Science/Safety as well as the ACSM Clinical Sports Medicine Leadership Committees.
Dr. Putukian serves as a Team Physician for US Soccer (WNT, U-20’s). She has been a Team Physician for the US Men’s National Lacrosse team (2010-2018), and the USOPC at the Beijing (2022) and Paris (2024) Olympics.
She has been an invited participant for the CISG and IOC Advanced Team Physician Conferences and IOC MH Diploma course. She is a co-author on several Team Physician Consensus Statements, active in clinical research, and has >170 peer-reviewed publications, >60 book chapters and >250 presentation
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 lead 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, a sport-for-development organization serving over 3000 South African youth. He has worked across South Africa, Zambia, USA and Switzerland in various nonprofit and development roles. Scott has received awards including the MTN Social Impact Award. He holds a Master of Science in International Development from Lund University and a BA in History and Politics from Queen’s University Belfast.
Susan Cockle
Susan is a Registered Psychologist and Certified Mental Performance Consultant in private practice in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, with close to 3 decades of experience. She has worked in high-performance sport since 2008 and has prepared athletes, coaches and staff of Team Canada to perform at 6 Olympic Games, 3 Paralympic Games, as well as the FIFA 2022 Men’s World Cup in Qatar.
Susan is currently the psychologist on staff with Beach Volleyball Canada, Sitting Volleyball Canada, Freestyle Skiing Canada (moguls, slopestyle/big air, half pipe and aerials) and Para Swimming Canada. She is also the inaugural Mental Health Lead for the Canadian Paralympic Committee, supporting the mental health of Team Canada at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo 2020, Beijing 2022, Paris 2024, and the upcoming Paralympic Games in Milano/Cortina 2026.