The NCAA has established a panel of medical professionals and student-athlete liaisons to guide the organization’s response to the coronavirus (COVD-19) outbreak, it announced Tuesday.
“The NCAA has established a COVID-19 advisory panel of leading medical, public health and epidemiology experts from their respective fields of study and NCAA member schools to guide its response to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease,” the announcement said.
NCAA Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brian Hainline will head the panel. The other members include:
- Stephanie Chu, M.D. – Team physician, University of Colorado, Boulder; Member, NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports
- Carlos del Rio, M.D. – Chair, Hubert Department of Global Health at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health
- Colleen Kraft, M.D. – Associate chief medical officer, Emory University Hospital
- Vivek Murthy, M.D. – 19th Surgeon General of the United States; Member, NCAA Board of Governors
- Mike Rodriguez – Senior director, U.S. Tennis Association and U.S. Open Security
- William Schaffner, M.D. – Professor, Preventive Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Nicholas Clark – Coastal Carolina college athlete and Board of Governors Student-Athlete Engagement Committee chair
- Caroline Lee – Southeastern Louisiana college athlete; NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee member and Division I SAAC representative to the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sport
- Mary Northcutt – Carson-Newman college athlete; NCAA Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee member and Division II SAAC representative to the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sport
- Isaiah Swann – University of Texas at Dallas college athlete; NCAA Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee member and Division III SAAC representative to the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sport
With college basketball’s March Madness looming, the NCAA had already said it is considering holding games without spectators present. It has not specifically addressed the upcoming NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships.
“The NCAA is committed to conducting its championships and events in a safe and responsible manner,” NCAA chief operating officer Donald Remy said. “Today we are planning to conduct our championships as planned, however, we are evaluating the COVID-19 situation daily and will make decisions accordingly.”
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many of these student-athletes,” Remy told Bloomberg in an interview Monday. “As we’re thinking about these circumstance, we’re thinking about how to preserve that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and at the same time how to make sure that any decision we make is grounded in medical science.”