New York, NY, September 30, 2016 — The National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL) announced a major partnership with NYU Langone Medical Center. NYU Langone will serve as the official hospital for the league and will provide care throughout the 2016-17 season.
“Forming this partnership with an elite medical institution like the NYU Langone Medical Center is a giant step forward for our league,” said NWHL Commissioner Dani Rylan. “We are grateful to NYU Langone for its support of women’s hockey and look forward to working with them to maximize the health and safety of our players and to promote wellness throughout the sport of ice hockey.”
NYU Langone and the NWHL will jointly promote health and wellness in girls’ youth ice hockey through educational programs, advancement of research, and improved safety.
Said Andrew Feldman, MD, clinical assistant professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, who is medical director for the league: “This partnership provides a unique opportunity to establish continuity of care for these athletes, and the first pairing of a professional league with a major academic medical center, dedicated to the complete health and wellness of the players,”
The NWHL will collaborate with NYU Langone to bring players to pediatric programs at the Medical Center and run three community ice hockey programs over the course of the 2016-2017 season. NWHL and NYU Langone will develop programs for girls’ youth ice hockey athletes that teach safe and healthy participation.
NYU Langone will provide the NWHL with game day medical coverage, and will invite all NWHL athletic trainers to attend NYU Langone’s Hockey Sports Medicine Conference for continuing education this year.
“Through this partnership, we hope to not only provide high quality medical care to the elite athletes of the NWHL, but also to develop research projects to inform medical guidance for all women and girls hockey players of all ages and levels of competition,” said Laith Jazrawi, MD, associate professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and chief of the Division of Sports Medicine at NYU Langone.
Dr. Feldman in his role as medical director for the NWHL will oversee the partnership, and additional medical support will be provided from Dr. Jazrawi, Guillem Gonzalez Lomas, MD – who will serve as head team physician for the New York Riveters – Steven Sheskier, MD, Michael Alaia, MD, Dennis Cardone, DO, Warren Young, MD, and the entire Sports Medicine Division in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at NYU Langone.
“We are excited to provide medical support for the NWHL this upcoming season,” added Lomas, an assistant professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at NYU Langone. “It is inspirational to work with a group of role models for young girls like these elite hockey players who exemplify dedication and what it means to play for the love of the game.”
Currently, NYU Langone is ranked #5 nationally in the U.S. News & World Report list of “Best Hospitals for Adult Orthopedics.” The Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at NYU Langone is one of the largest and most accomplished orthopaedic programs in the country, recognized both nationally and internationally as a center of excellence in orthopaedic clinical care, education, research, and quality.
NYU Langone’s nationally-ranked orthopaedic surgery, rehabilitation medicine and neurology departments have combined to form a multidisciplinary Concussion Center in order to provide expert diagnosis and treatment to children and adults with concussions and other head injuries. NYU Langone’s Concussion Center will collaborate with the NWHL to provide care as needed and develop research projects and head injury protocols.
More information about NYU Langone Medical Center is available at nyulangone.org.
