Monday, April 4, 2022 - 5:30pm
Location:
HYBRID - STEPS 101 or VIRTUAL
Sports, Covid-19, and the Framing of Public Health Risks
Kathleen Bachynski
Assistant Professor of Public Health
Muhlenberg College
Assistant Professor of Public Health
Muhlenberg College
This talk will reflect on several key parallels in thinking about population-level health risks in the context of sports safety and Covid-19. Deeply rooted cultural beliefs about individualism, freedom, and toughness are frequently in tension with public health approaches to reducing risk. From protective equipment in sports to face masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19, understanding perceptions of risk and changing norms around safety is critical to successfully implementing public health.
Kathleen Bachynski is an assistant professor of public health at Muhlenberg College where she researches and teaches on topics in epidemiology, sports safety, public health ethics, and the history of public health. She is the author of No Game for Boys to Play: The History of Youth Football and the Origins of a Public Health Crisis (published by the University of North Carolina Press, 2019). Bridging sports history and public health history, No Game for Boys to Play received the 2020 North American Society for Sport History Book Award. Some of her other research projects have focused on the history of bike helmet laws, debates over headgear in girls' lacrosse, and pseudo medicine for sports concussion.
VIRTUAL LINK - Regisration Required: go.lehigh.edu/keynote22hms
Masks will be required for in-person attendance. If you do not have a mask, surgical and n95 masks will be available.
Department:
Health, Medicine and Society