Dr. Alexander Khalessi joins Pop Warner's Medical Advisory Board to provide expertise on concussion awareness and player safety. Dr. Khalessi is director of neurovascular surgery at UC San Diego and will help Pop Warner implement guidelines from the CDC and NATA. Pop Warner's Medical Advisory Board recently helped update rules to limit contact in football practices.

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DR. ALEXANDER A. KHALESSI JOINS POP WARNER
MEDICAL ADVISORY BOARD
Dr. Khalessi joins Pop Warner’s efforts to heighten concussion awareness and enforce player safety
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (Aug. XX, 2012) –Pop Warner Little Scholars, Inc., the nation’s largest and
oldest youth football, cheer and dance organization, today announced that Dr. Alexander Khalessi has
joined the Pop Warner Medical Advisory Board. Dr. Khalessi serves as Director of Neurovascular
Surgery and Neurosurgical Director of NeuroCritical Care with specialties in cranial and
endovascular neurosurgery at the University of California, San Diego. The Pop Warner Medical
Advisory Board was formed in 2010 to ensure Pop Warner remains proactive on all medical issues
that affect youth sports, with a focus on prevention and proper identification and treatment of
concussions, hydration awareness, proper nutrition guidelines, and general health and safety issues.
The Pop Warner Medical Advisory Board is led by physicians with expertise in neuromedicine and
sports safety and uses the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National
Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) guidelines. The Board recently helped guide Pop Warner’s
two major rule changes for the 2012 season that address the type of contact and amount of contact
allowed in football practice.
“We welcome Dr. Khalessi to the Pop Warner Medical Advisory Board,” said Jon Butler, Executive
Director of Pop Warner Little Scholars. “His research and expertise will make a valuable addition to
the Advisory Board, and will aid in Pop Warner’s commitment to creating the safest playing
environment possible for our young athletes nationwide.”
Dr. Khalessi received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and completed his
neurosurgical residency at University of Southern California. In addition to serving on the Pop
Warner Medical Advisory Board, Dr. Khalessi is member of the Residency Review Committee for
Neurosurgery, Editorial Board for the Journal of Graduate Medical Education and ACGME Working
Group of Neurosurgical Milestones, which defined the national standards of neurosurgical residency
training. Dr. Khalessi is a member of the AANS/CNS Joint Clinical Guidelines Committee that
defines clinical practice standards and Executive Committee of the Joint AANS/CNS
Cerebrovascular Section. He is principal editor of a free standing Ischemic Stroke Supplement for
World Neurosurgery, the official Journal of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies.
About Pop Warner Little Scholars, Inc.
Founded in 1929 and headquartered in Langhorne, PA, Pop Warner Little Scholars is the world’s
largest youth football, cheerleading and dance organization and the only youth sports organization
that emphasizes academics as a prerequisite for participation. Currently there are over 400,000
children in Pop Warner organizations in 43 states, Scotland, Germany, Russia, Japan and Mexico.
The NFLPA estimates that 70% of all current NFL Players got their start in Pop Warner programs.
For more information on Pop Warner and its programs visit popwarner.com, our Facebook page and
follow us on Twitter.
Media Contact:
Alexandra Paparsenos
apaparsenos@ctpboston.com, (301) 792-6019