Gerard Gioia
Neuropsychologist, Children’s National Medical Center
As youth sports injuries become the subject of hot medical debate among parents, one of the nation’s leading experts on pediatric concussions, Gerard Gioia—a PhD, not an MD—has developed two concussion-detecting smartphone apps and testified before Congress about the debilitating effects of concussions.
The director of the Safe Concussion Outcome Recovery and Education program at Children’s National Medical Center, he researches ways to prevent and treat mild traumatic brain injuries in children and adolescents. This year, Gioia will launch an official set of cognitive and symptom-monitoring tools—which he created with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—to ensure that doctors, parents, schools, and coaches can properly treat concussions among youth. The tools could be a lifesaver.
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