Victor Lopez Jr, is a SPRINZ/AUT Research Associate, and member of the Rugby Codes Research Group. He is a clinical researcher at Hospital for Special Surgery and Director of Medical Services for the Northeast Rugby Olympic Development Academy.

He is honored to be a plenary speaker at the 2018 Podiatry New Zealand Conference, by its event sponsor “Paromed Inc“ a lower limb orthopaedic technologies based company in Australia and New Zealand.

They will sponsor him in Auckland, on Friday June 29^th, 2018.  To discuss his AUT/SPRINZ rugby-codes on-going project, on the USA North American Rugby-7s RISERugby injury surveillance project and a subset of ankle injury data.  On the Epidemiology of Ankle Injuries in the New Olympic Collision Sport Rugby-7s: The rates in the U.S. emerging Rugby Market.  Representing his seniors Professor Patria Hume (AUT), Dr Robert C. Cantu (Emerson Hospital) and Dr. Answorth A. Allen (Hospital for Special Surgery), and their sponsor the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment at the 2018 Podiatry NZ Conference.

Podiatry New Zealand was founded in 1946, PodiatryNZ is the profession’s membership organization. Its aim is “To Advance the Quality of and Access to Podiatry,” Hei whakapiki i te kounga me te whai wāhi ki te haumanu waewae.

They are a not for profit organisation registered under the Incorporated Societies Act and dedicated to better patient outcomes by enhancing the profession of podiatry and increasing awareness among New Zealanders about the importance of good foot health care. PodiatryNZ acts as the national voice representing the interests of Podiatrists. View more information on the Board and governance of PodiatryNZ.

Furthermore, on Thursday, June 28^th, he will be presenting a Masterclass on his experiences with ankle injuries in U.S. Rugby including the Northeast Olympic Development Academy, a USA Rugby and USOC development program. This will provide pearls of wisdom on athlete care and treatment to make a better practitioner from a “hands-on-perspective.”

The knowledge conveyed will be on the heels of Dr. Lopez et al. just winning the 2017 Sports Medicine Australia- Best New Investigator in Sports Injury Prevention. On their teams analyses of “Injury rates of U.S. rugby-7s an olympic collision sport: using a novel injury surveillance tool the RISERugby report methodology.”

At the conclusion of this activity, participants will be able to identify and classify the rates of ankle injuries in Rugby-7s, that have been defined from the current literature on sports medicine, definitions, methodology and concepts, from an IOC Research “Centers of Excellence” approach.

At the conclusion of this activity, participants will be able to recall the biomechanisms of ankle injuries (contact vs non-contact) in the growing sport of Rugby-7s, and demonstrate this knowledge with evidence-based treatment plans on community sporting populations.

At the conclusion of this activity, participants will be able to recognize the public health concern with the expanding new Olympic Sport of Rugby-7s and injury rates in a large population involved with this sport.