Head Games

The Picture House is excited to announce the screening of the powerful documentary Head Games, which is about the issues surrounding head injuries in children's sports. ABC news said "Head Games" exposes viewers to one of the leading public health issues of our time, raising the question "How much are you willing to lose for a game?" Please join us for this FREE SCREENING with Q&A by leading NYU Doctors who specialize in head trauma.



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Center Co-Director, Laura J. Balcer, MD, MSCE is Professor and Vice Chair of theDepartment of Neurology at NYU Langone Medical Center. A neurologist and epidemiologist, Dr. Balcer is a co-leader of national collaborative clinical and research efforts in the neuro-ophthalmology of multiple sclerosis (MS) and sports-related concussion.
Dr. Balcer received her medical degree in 1991 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Following residency in neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Balcer’s postgraduate training included a clinical fellowship in neuro-ophthalmology in 1996 and a Master’s Degree in Clinical Epidemiology (M.S.C.E.) at Penn in 2000.

During the past 15 years, Dr. Balcer’s clinical and research work has focused on the development of visual function tests and other outcomes for clinical trials in multiple sclerosis (MS). Using the non-invasive technique of optical coherence tomography (OCT), Dr. Balcer’s collaborative teams at Penn, Johns Hopkins, University of Texas Southwestern at Dallas, University of Pittsburgh and University of California San Francisco have led international efforts to model axonal and neuronal loss in vivo in patients with MS.
Dr. Balcer’s expertise has been more recently sought to examine new vision-based tests and other tools for concussion diagnosis and management. Assessments of rapid number naming (King-Devick test) and the Standardized Assessment of Concussion (SAC) scale of the SCAT2 have suggested important correlations of vision and cognition among professional athletes. Dr. Balcer has also provided specialized care for collegiate and professional athletes at Penn prior to joining NYU Langone in November 2012. She is a member of the Ivy League Concussion Committee and a co-director of a collaborative concussion research effort between the Ivy League and Big 10. Dr. Balcer was recently appointed as a member of a new NCAA Concussion Task Force.

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Steven Galetta, MD is currently the Philip K. Moskowitz, MD, Professor of Neurology, and Chair of the Department of Neurology at the NYU Langone Medical Center. Formerly, he was the Associate Dean of Admissions for the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He also served as the Director of Neurological Training and Neuro-ophthalmology at Penn for over two decades. Dr. Galetta received his MD from Cornell University Medical College. He then completed his neurology residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and his neuro-ophthalmology fellowship at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami.

Dr. Galetta has served on the editorial board for the journals Neurology, and the Journal of Neuro-ophthalmology. He is co-author of the textbook, Neuro-ophthalmology: Diagnosis and Management. In 2004, he was named the American Neurological Association’s distinguished teacher of the year. He was also named the Robert J. Glaser Alpha Omega Alpha distinguished teacher of the year by the Association of American Medical Colleges in 2004. In 2008, he received the Parker Palmer award from the ACGME for his contributions to graduate medical education. Dr. Galetta has been involved in various capacities in a large number of clinical trials and has over 200 original publications concerning clinical, radiologic and research aspects of multiple sclerosis, sports related concussion and neuro-ophthalmology
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About The Film
From acclaimed director Steve James, Head Games is a revealing documentary about the silent concussion crisis in American sports. Athletes from the professional to the youth levels share their personal struggles in dealing with the devastating and long-term effects of concussions, an epidemic fueled by the 'leave everything on the field' culture so prominent in American sport. Inspired by events from the book Head Games written by former Ivy League football star and WWE wrestler Christopher Nowinski, and featuring interviews with Nowinski, Bob Costas (NBC Sports), Keith Primeau (NHL All-Star), Cindy Parlow Cone (Olympic Gold Medalist, Women’s Soccer), and many more, the film contrasts eye-opening evidence and cutting-edge science on head trauma from the nation's leading medical experts with first-hand accounts from the athletes, coaches and parents who must tread the difficult balance between sports excellence and basic self-preservation. Head Games exposes viewers to one of the leading public health issues of our time, raising the question: “How much of you are you willing to lose for a game?”

Sponsored by Symmetry Physical Therapy, NYU and Pelham Youth Hockey Association

http://vimeo.com/40456083