Washington, DC – Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) physicians and researchers are available to answer questions about medical topics related to athletes competing in the 2010 Olympic Games. Areas of expertise include performance anxiety, elite athleticism, sports genetics, muscle adaptation, injuries, sports-related eating disorders, water intoxication and competitive stress.
Judith R.F. Kupersmith, MD, is professor of clinical psychiatry at Georgetown University School of Medicine. She has devoted her 40 year career in psychiatry to helping performers and athletes triumph over stresses, trials and tribulations that can accompany performances and competitions. Kupersmith says barriers that may seem trivial to non-performers can tremendously interfere with a performance or competition. Other performance-related challenges present as more obvious obstacles including paralyzing performance anxiety, eating disorders or career-ending injuries. Read more about Judith Kupersmith.
J.P. Hyatt, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Human Science in the School of Nursing & Health Studies at GUMC. Hyatt specializes in the physiology of skeletal muscle and how it adapts to exercise. Hyatt studies how a muscle gains bulk and strength from exercise. Hyatt says that genetics plays a big part in whether a person has predominantly fast or slow twitch muscles, although training muscles can adapt to where they are pushed. Read more about J.P. Hyatt.
Joseph Verbalis, MD, is chairman of the Department of Medicine at GUMC. He is an expert on exercise-associated hyponatremia (EAH), or water intoxication, which can cause death during endurance events. Verbalis, a professor of medicine at GUMC, is a member of a group of experts charged with understanding the biological basis of EAH to reduce the risk of death among future athletes. Read more about Joseph Verbalis.
GUMC experts are available for media interviews by contacting Karen Mallet by email at km463@georgetown.edu or by phone at (215)-514-9751. Interviews via Skype and ISDN are available.
About Georgetown University Medical Center
Georgetown University Medical Center is an internationally recognized academic medical center with a three-part mission of research, teaching and patient care (through Georgetown’s affiliation with MedStar Health). GUMC’s mission is carried out with a strong emphasis on public service and a dedication to the Catholic, Jesuit principle of cura personalis -- or "care of the whole person." The Medical Center includes the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing and Health Studies, both nationally ranked, the world-renowned Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Biomedical Graduate Research Organization (BGRO), home to 60 percent of the university’s sponsored research funding.
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