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The 8th Annual Saint Louis University Athletic Training Speakers Series and Recognition Ceremony Announces its Featured Speaker for 2019

The Saint Louis University (SLU) Athletic Training Program recently announced Murphy Grant, MS, ATC, PES, CES, as the featured speaker for the annual SLU Athletic Training Speaker Series and Recognition Ceremony this spring. The event is presented by the SLU chapter of Iota Tau Alpha, the national Athletic Training honor society; SLU Athletic Training Society (SLATS); and SLU Student Government Association.

AT Speaker Series 2019

Join the SLU Athletic Training program for the annual Athletic Training Speaker Series and Recognition Ceremony on February 18.

Grant is the Associate Athletic Director, Director of Sports Medicine and Head Football Athletic Trainer for the University of Kansas. Grant’s speaker series presentation, Leveraging the Greatness of “We”: Enabling a Culture of Opportunity in Health Care, will take place Monday, February 18, 2019 at 7:00 PM in the Health Sciences Education Union auditorium on SLU’s medical campus.

Prior to working in his current roles at the University of Kansas, Grant served as a graduate assistant in the Athletic Training department at Illinois State University, where he earned his Master’s in Exercise Sciences. Grant then became an athletic trainer in the Boston Red Sox minor league system, Head Athletic Trainer at Missouri Valley College and then the Head Athletic Trainer of the Oklahoma State University basketball team – a team that made a Sweet 16 and Final Four appearance in Grant’s five years with the team.

Grant wants students and other attendees to understand the importance of working as a team on behalf of a patient and that supporting each other as healthcare professionals truly has an impact on patient care.

“I think that the students need to understand that coming together as a group provides more support than one person trying to address topics alone. When it comes to health care, the main thing should be the main thing: providing quality health care,” Grant said. “When we all come together to provide something special to our patients, then it is done in a manner of professionalism and respect for our patients and who they are.”

As a former collegiate athlete himself, Grant has a very unique perspective on how athletic trainers and other health care professionals should work together to provide care for their patients.

“As a former collegiate athlete and minority clinician, this was very important to me,” Grant said. “I knew how I felt I should be cared for medically as a student-athlete, which, in turn, has set the tone for how I wanted to provide care for the athletes under my watch.”

After the speaker, there will be a panel discussion expanding upon the topics addressed by the keynote speaker. The panel will include: SLU Health Management and Policy Department Chair Rhonda BeLue, Ph.D.; Assistant Athletic Trainer for the NFC Champion Los Angeles Rams and SLU Athletic Training program alumna Hilary Stepansky, MAT, ATC; and AthletiCare Sports Medicine Foundation Founder and President Ron Wagner, Ph.D, ATC.

SLU Athletic Training Program Director Anthony Breitbach, Ph.D., ATC, was very excited to be able to bring this group of health care professionals together for the speaker series event.

“We are very fortunate to have such an outstanding group for our speaker series, led by Murphy Grant, to discuss creating opportunity in health care,” Dr. Breitbach said. “Each speaker will bring an area of expertise that will help our audience better understand this very important topic.”

The 8th Annual Athletic Training Speaker Series and Recognition Ceremony, supported by the SLU Student Government Association, is free of charge and open to the public. In addition to the presentation, the event will also include the induction ceremony of SLU’s Alpha Iota Chapter of Iota Tau Alpha and recognition of the program scholarship recipients with a formal dedication of the inaugural Brandi Burgett Memorial Award and Scholarship.

For more information, call (314) 977-8561 or email atep@health.slu.edu.

Saint Louis University is a Catholic, Jesuit institution that values academic excellence, life-changing research, compassionate health care, and a strong commitment to faith and service. Founded in 1818, the University fosters the intellectual and character development of nearly 13,000 students on two campuses in St. Louis and Madrid, Spain. Building on a legacy of more than 200 years, Saint Louis University continues to move forward with an unwavering commitment to a higher purpose, a greater good.