OUr dedicated team
The work our organization does to help the concussion and TBI community wouldn’t be possible without the efforts of our team members. Our team is comprised of Board of Directors, Staff, and Volunteers who all share the same passion and drive to spread awareness on concussions and educate people on the severity of the injury.
Ryan Sutton -
executive director
Ryan experienced 5 concussions throughout his amateur sport career and 3 concussions outside of sport. Ryan deals occasional persistent symptoms such as vision problems, anxiety and headaches. He was advised by doctors to stop playing contact sports at the age of 18. Around this time, Ryan began to fully understand how concussions can affect peoples lives. That was also the time where he decided to dedicate his life to helping others who have experiences with concussions.
Ryan has now completed his Master’s Degree at Brock University writing a thesis project called “The Sport Related Concussion Experience”. He has also completed the Knowledge Translation Professional Certificate (KTPC) from Sick Kids and the University of Toronto School of Medicine to further his passion and skill set for Knowledge Mobilization.
His ultimate vision is to blend leading edge research with high level knowledge mobilization to positively shift peoples understanding of concussions. Ryan is actively working to build HeadsupCAN education, events and research programs while emphasizing a community approach that includes learning from people with concussions.
Seth Mendelsohn -
creative director
Seth suffered his only diagnosed concussion in his senior year of high school playing football. He was told to have suffered a mild concussion, yet still was unable to play for the majority of the season. Throughout his amateur football career he noticed an alarming trend of his teammates not handling their concussions properly, often returning to the field after taking substantial hits to the head regardless of dizziness or disorientation. These experiences and observations drove Seth to help create HeadsupCAN as a way to enrich peoples understandings of traumatic brain injuries and the often lackadaisical culture and attitudes around managing head injuries in sport.
Seth has found a passion for content creation to go along with his natural storytelling ability. His new passion has allowed HeadsupCAN to expand our ability to create unique and engaging awareness initiatives. Seth has been on the journey to building a life-long-learning mindset that has directly impacted his new projects and his love for meditation, mindfulness, yoga.
Michael Jorgensen - Research Director
Michael Jorgensen is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Toronto in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education. Michael’s research seeks to improve current approaches to sport-related concussion prevention by furthering our understanding of why athletes engage in risk-taking and protective behaviours. Specifically, his research critically examines how constructions of risk influence athlete behaviour. Michael is exploring the tensions between risk tolerance and risk aversion and how these affect athletes’ thresholds of acceptable risk. In collaboration with provincial and national sporting bodies, his research has also examined the roles and experiences of actors within a sport system as novel policies and risk management strategies are introduced into competitions. Alongside his research programme, Michael serves as the research director for HeadsupCAN and as a research coordinator at the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest, Division of Neurology.
Emma Pownall - Research & Education Lead
Emma Pownall is a recent graduate of the Bachelors of Science Kinesiology program at Trent University. Her passion for concussions stemmed from being personally affected during her ski racing career and today as a student from multiple head injuries. In the hopes to change the concussion landscape of the Peterborough area and grow the field of research, Emma did her undergrad thesis in Assessing Executive Functioning and Eye Movement Performance in Concussions. She is continuing her education and love for research at Trent, pursuing a Master’s in Psychology growing her undergrad work. In collaboration with HeadsupCAN, Trent University, and Brock University Emma’s research will be a part of a Mitac’s funded project that aims to increase knowledge, bring awareness, and propel research forward within the field.
Board of directors
Stephanie Cowle
Director of Knowledge Translation, Parachute Canada
Network Coordinator, Knowledge Translation, Canadian Concussion Network
Alexander Salomie
Program and Communications Manager, Canadian Mental Health Association
Pina Petrielli
Owner, Petrielli Accounting Services
Judy Gargaro
Program Manager,
Neurotrauma Care Pathways and Ontario Neurotrauma to Neurorecovery Dataset Prioritization Initiative
KITE Research Institute - Toronto Rehab, University Health Network (UHN)
Become a volunteer today by emailing headsupcan@gmail.com