Aug. 31, 2004

Douglas G. Browning, M.D., ATC-L
Dr. Doug Browning is a triple graduate from Wake Forest University, having completed his undergraduate degree, medical school training, and residency there. He completed a Sports Medicine Fellowship with the Hughston Orthopaedic Clinic / Hughston Sports Medicine Hospital in Columbus, GA. He is a licensed certified athletic trainer, and is an Assistant Professor in Family Medicine and Associate in Surgical Sciences (Orthopaedic Surgery / Sports Medicine) at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Dr. Browning is the director of the WFU Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship, and serves as Team Physician for Wake Forest University. Dr. Browning served as a physician for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, and for the 1995 World Triathlon Championships in Cancun. He currently serves on the NC Medical Society's Sports Medicine Committee.

Sara L. Neal, M.D., M.S.
Sara L. Neal is an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine of Wake Forest University School of Medicine and serves as the associate director of the Family Medicine Residency training program. She is a graduate of the former Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University and completed her family practice residency in the Department of Family and Community Medicine of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Dr. Neal serves as the team physician for the Wake Forest University Women's Field Hockey Team (NCAA National Champions in 2002 and 2003!)

Scott Spernoga, M.Ed., ATC-L
Scott is an Assistant Athletic Trainer for Wake Forest University. He serves as the primary athletic trainer for the NCAA National Champions Demon Deacon field hockey team, as well as for WFU Men's and Women's Tennis. Spernoga has been Wake Forest field hockey's athletic trainer during a stretch of five straight NCAA appearances, two Atlantic Coast Conference titles and the two back to back National Championships in 2002 and 2003.

A 1997 graduate of Penn State University, Spernoga earned his bachelor's degree in Kinesiology and Sports Medicine. He obtained his master's degree in Sports Medicine from the University of Virginia in 1998. Scott is a native of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He is a member of the National Athletic Trainers' Association, the Atlantic Coast Conference Sports Medicine Association and the North Carolina Athletic Trainers' Association.

Heath C. Thornton, M.D.
Dr. Heath Thornton is in his first year as a faculty member of the Wake Forest University Sports Medicine team and the Wake Forest Department of Family and Community Medicine. After completing medical school at the Medical College of Virginia and his Family Medicine residency at Riverside Medical Center in Newport News, VA, he returned home to North Carolina to complete a Sports Medicine fellowship at Wake Forest University. He is board certified in Family Medicine and has received a Certificate of Added Qualification in Sports Medicine from the American Board of Family Practice. Memberships include the American Medical Society of Sports Medicine, American Academy of Family Practice, Wilderness Medicine Society, and North Carolina Medical Society.

Bryan W. Smith, M.D., Ph.D., FAAP
Bryan is the medical consultant for the Atlantic Coast Conference and the editor of the ACC Sports Sciences website. Prior to his duties for the ACC, Dr. Smith was the Head Team Physician at the University of North Carolina for nearly ten years. He has authored approximately fifty scholarly articles and given more than sixty -five invited scholarly lectures. He sits on the editorial board for the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine, is a contributing editor for Sports Medicine in Primary Care, and for the past four years has been a regular contributor to the American College of Sports Medicine's Fit Society Page.

A pediatrician with a doctorate in exercise physiology, Dr. Smith is a member of the American Board of Pediatrics, a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, a member of the American College of Sports Medicine, and a charter member of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine. He has served as the medical consultant to the NCAA Football Rules Committee, served on the NCAA Baseball Research Panel, and has been a past chairman of the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports. Currently, Dr. Smith is a member of the United States Lacrosse Sports Science Committee and a member of the North Carolina Medical Society's Sports Medicine Committee.