“Unfortunately, even the strongest and most conditioned athletes are susceptible to suffering ACL tears,” said a University of Louisville sports medicine specialist and sports team physician. “The ACL is an elastic ligament��that can succumb to injury, not only in the face of trauma, but also during non-contact plays.”

Immediately following ACL tears, athletes usually experience swelling, pain and weakness in the knee. The injury often requires surgery to repair and a formal physical therapy program.

While Wentz will miss the Super Bowl because of the season-ending injury he experienced in December, Pohlgeers advises that lower body exercises can help prevent injury to the stabilizing ligament in the knee by building and maintaining strength and stability in the lower extremities.

Improving balance, following safe running and jumping techniques and incorporating closed chain exercises – which include squats, lunges and leg presses – into an athlete’s training program can dramatically reduce the prevalence of ACL tears, Pohlgeers said.��

Barbara Gordon, director of social services of the Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency, will present a discussion titled, “Access to Community-Based Services: Challenges and Opportunities.” The event will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the University Club, 200 E. Brandeis Ave.

Louisville is a health care hub and is proposing to be an age-friendly city, yet many older adults struggle to access the programs, services and support they need to maintain their quality of life. Funding and policy neglect can further exacerbate these challenges at both the local and state levels. If left unaddressed, Louisville and Kentucky will be incapable of meeting either the current needs or the future demands of an aging population. Gordon will address how creative collaboration can revive and strengthen this support for an uncertain future.

Gordon has been with KIPDA for 14 years after working with the Cabinet for Health Services as a branch manager for Elder Rights, Special Initiatives and Supports Branch in the Office of Aging Services. Her experience serving older adults includes working as a home care case manager serving older persons in Southwestern Kentucky, working with older adults with mental health issues at the Barren River Community Mental Health Center, and as a senior citizen center director in Franklin County. Gordon also is an instructor at the University of Louisville Kent School of Social Work and is the current president of the Southeast Association of Area Agencies on Aging.

Admission is $25 per person and includes lunch. .

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As a Thought Leader-Plus, Harper is called upon to provide expert commentary on topics in her field — primarily health care for women — as well as topics that do not have a strict medical focus. Most recently, Harper was asked to comment on physicians making diagnoses of famous people without seeing them face-to-face.

“(Physicians) have trained powers of observation to aid us in diagnosing illnesses. But powers of observation alone can be inaccurate or inaccurately interpreted. Without having the person be a part of the shared person-doctor relationship, harmful misdiagnoses will occur. Speculation about someone’s health, in the parlance of physicians, often causes more harm than benefit,” she said in the posted Sept. 13 in the wake of news reports about the pneumonia and dehydration diagnoses of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

In addition to holding an endowed professorship and chair, Harper also serves as a professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women’s Health; a professor of bioengineering at the ; and a professor of epidemiology and population health and of health promotion and behavioral health sciences in the School of Public Health and Information Sciences. Her expertise and primary research focus is prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases related to human papillomavirus. She joined the UofL faculty in 2013.

Harper was one of the United States clinician scientists leading the global research effort for prophylactic human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines to control cervical cancer. She has been a lead author in the multiple Lancet publications and co-author of more than 100 additional articles on cervical cancer prevention. She has helped establish U.S. national guidelines for the nomenclature of cervical cytology and the screening and management strategies for women with abnormal cytology and histology. She also has consulted for and published with the World Health Organization on the use of prophylactic HPV vaccines.��

She is currently a member of the NIH’s Population Sciences and Epidemiology Integrated Review Group of the Epidemiology of Cancer Study Section and an active grant reviewer for many national organizations. In February, she was appointed to the , an appointed panel that issues evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services such as screenings, counseling services, and preventive medications.