6 October 2016 – The International Concussion and Head Injury Research Foundation (‘ICHIRF’) is pleased to announce that its’ Medical Director, Dr Michael Turner, has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine (FSEM UK).
Dr Turner will be presented with his Honorary Fellowship, awarded for ‘a major contribution to the development of Sport and Exercise Medicine’, by HRH The Princess Royal who will also confer one other Honorary Fellowship, on Professor Stewart Hillis OBE (posthumously).
The ceremony took place at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh on Wednesday 5th October 2016.
Dr Turner was appointed Chief Medical Adviser to the British Ski Federation in 1973, and accompanied the GB Team to the Winter Olympics in Calgary, Albertville and Lillehammer. He subsequently held the role of Director of Medical Services at the British Olympic Association and Chief Medical Adviser to British Horseracing. During his 21-year tenure at British Horseracing, he was responsible for the introduction of a host of changes to the standards of medical support in racing, including the establishment of a comprehensive concussion management protocol across the entire sport. Dr Turner is currently Chief Medical Adviser to the Lawn Tennis Association.
In 2014, Dr Turner founded ICHIRF and, as Medical Director, is responsible for overseeing the research project. ICHIRF is an international initiative looking at the long-term effects of concussion in men and women who have competed in impact sports. The project is being run in collaboration with similar concussion research projects in Australia, Switzerland and North America.