Concussion Expert to present Fries Lecture at Georgia Southern University

September 21, 2015

Dr. Russell Gore

Georgia Southern University will host Dr. Russell Gore, medical director for the Sports Concussion Institute in Atlanta, as the 2015 Norman Fries Distinguished Lectureship Series speaker on Tuesday, Sept. 29, at 7:30 p.m., in the Nessmith-Lane Conference Center, 847 Plant Drive. His presentation titled “ Brain Injury and the Limits of Human Performance: From Fighter Planes to Football Games” is free and open to the public.

Gore is part of an interdisciplinary research team funded by the Department of Defense and the National Football League developing wearable, mobile technology to detect brain injury in sports and military settings. A neurologist and biomedical engineer with 15 years experience, he specializes in using technology to solve complex biomedical and health care challenges, particularly the development and application of technology to enhance clinical care and human performance. In addition to his role as medical director for the Sports Concussion Institute, he serves as an adjunct associate professor at Emory University and in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech.

After completing his biomedical engineering studies at Vanderbilt University and his medical degree at Emory University, Gore served as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force, including experience at the Air Force Research Laboratory. As a military physician, he cared for service members at home and overseas experiencing first-hand the immediate trauma and devastating aftermath of combat injuries. His research focused on brain injury, aviation fatigue and the development of noninvasive technology to assess pilot performance in advanced aviation systems.

Gore subsequently completed residency training in neurology and a fellowship in vestibular neurology at Emory University. While in residency and fellowship he continued his research through the Georgia Institute of Technology Neuroengineering Lab, focusing on the development of both invasive and non-invasive devices to interface humans with technology.

The annual Norman Fries Distinguished Lectureship series began in 2001. It is funded by an endowment in honor of the late Norman Fries, the founder of Claxton Poultry. In his more than 50 years of business, Fries built the company from a one-man operation into one of the largest poultry production plants in the United States. Past Fries lecturers include David Oreck of Oreck Vacuums, South African apartheid author and lecturer Mark Mathabane, NASA director James W. “Jim” Kennedy, author and historian Gordon S. Wood, Nobel prize-winner Dr. William D. Phillips and most recently, best-selling author Susan Orlean.

Georgia Southern University, a public Carnegie Doctoral/Research University founded in 1906, offers more than 125 degree programs serving more than 20,500 students. Through eight colleges, the University offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs built on more than a century of academic achievement. Georgia Southern is recognized for its student-centered and hands-on approach to education. Visit GeorgiaSouthern.edu.