Never Too Early, Never Too Late

Thomas LaVeist, PhD, is a leading researcher on the topic of health disparities and the social determinants of health, including areas such as U.S. health and social policy, the role of race in health research, social factors contributing to mortality, longevity, and life expectancy, and the utilization of health services in the United States. LaVeist became dean of the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Health at Tulane University in 2018. Prior to his arrival, he served as the chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Milken Institute of Public Health at George Washington University. He also spent 25 years at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health where he was the William C. and Nancy F. Richards Professor in Health Policy and the director of the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions. In addition to his position as dean, he is also the Weatherhead Presidential Chair in Health Equity and is director of Tulane’s Institute for Innovations in Health Equity. As an authority on health disparities, Dean LaVeist has been a sought-after source for media and other organizations in the aftermath of COVID-19, which had a devastating impact on minority communities. He served as co-chair of the Louisiana COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force and led an effort among Black members of the National Academy of Medicine to promote vaccination and discourage pandemic misinformation.

Under his leadership, the school secured a naming gift in 2024 in recognition of Celia Scott Weatherhead’s lifetime of giving to the university, reflecting the largest gift by a single donor to the institution. Some other highlights of his administration have been the school’s expanded footprint in online education, the launch of a Doctor of Public Health program Leadership, Equity, and Advocacy, and a strategic plan prioritizing critical and emerging areas in public health like cancer prevention and control, artificial intelligence and data science, and climate and health security.

LaVeist holds a doctorate in medical sociology from the University of Michigan and is an elected member of the prestigious National Academy of Medicine. He has published articles in scientific journals, focusing on the social and behavioral factors that impact health outcomes, and has engaged in these issues through lectures and articles in major media. He is also executive producer of the documentary “The Skin You’re In”, which explores the disparities between black and white health in America. LaVeist currently serves as the executive board chair of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH), and was recently honored with the prestigious Herbert W. Nickens Award by the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Rachel Grashow PhD, MS, is the director of epidemiological research initiatives and co-investigator of Family Experiences Managing Football Lives (FEM-FL) for the Football Players Health Study at Harvard University. Grashow is also a research scientist at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Wesleyan University in sociology, a PhD at Brandeis University in computational neuroscience, and a master’s of science in epidemiology at the Harvard Chan School. Grashow’s work has focused on how environmental exposures affect the overall and cognitive health of uniquely vulnerable populations, including children, pregnant women, the elderly, veterans, and professional athletes. She has conducted additional research into environmental influences on breast cancer etiology. Grashow is committed to using sound science to uncover how health disparities may relate to environmental health factors, and to communicating the results of her work with both lay and professional audiences.

Hagar Elgendy-Peerman, MD, is originally from Alexandria, Egypt. In immigrating to the United States, she found comfort and passion in the sport of swimming. Swimming took her to the University of Miami where she competed at the Division I Level and in representation of her home country of Egypt. Elgendy-Peerman earned seven National Championship Titles, a national record, and an Olympic Trial second place finishing in 2012 in preparation of the Olympic Games. In her time in college she served on the Athletes In Action ministry and in transition to Tulane University started and led the ministry that served to encourage up to 50 athletes in Biblical training. At Tulane, she received her master’s degree in neuroscience, where she also served as a member of the multi-disciplinary team that earned a grant to become one of the sites for the Brain and Body Assessment program via The Trust.

After her concussion work, Elgendy-Peerman met her husband Cedric Peerman, former running back, captain, and veteran of the Cincinnati Bengals. During their 10-year tenure in the NFL, she represented in the 2022 Super Bowl Fashion Show organized by the Off the Field NFL Wives Association. She now serves as the vice president of the Off the Field NFL Wives Association and chair of Development & Community Outreach. Her medical school training was at the University of Cincinnati, where she stood to advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and founded the University’s first family leave policy. She is now the chief administrative resident of University of North Carolina’s (UNC) Department Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, and has served to lead the House Staff Council of UNC representing 1,100 trainee physicians of the UNC Health Care System. Elgendy-Peerman also served as the North Carolina State Representative for Graduate Medical Education Annual Conference in 2023. Together, she and her husband have five children: Emmaus, Ava, Isabelle, Elias, and Eysah. They value family time over anything and their greatest achievement and work in progress is growing as young parents. They are also league owners of their own non-profit NFL Flag football league titled Flag Football Elite.

Jonathan H. Kim, MD, MSc, FACC, is associate professor of medicine and the founding director of sports cardiology in the Division of Cardiology and Orthopedics at Emory University School of Medicine. He also holds an adjunct professorship in the School of Applied Physiology at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Kim received his BS at Emory University and was a Fulbright Scholar before attending Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital, and cardiology fellowship at Emory, where he was chief fellow from 2013 to 2014. In addition to his clinical role, Kim conducts NIH-funded sports cardiology research at Emory. He is the team cardiologist for the Atlanta Falcons, Braves, Hawks, Dream, United, and for Sports Medicine at Emory and Georgia Tech. He is a member of the NBA Cardiac Advisory Committee, NFL Cardiovascular Task Force, and a consultant for Major League Baseball and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). He is the co-medical director for the AJC Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta. Kim is the chair for the American College of Cardiology’s Sports and Exercise Cardiology Council.

James J. Kovach, MD, JD, is a managing partner of Nelgaard Capital Partners LP, a life sciences venture capital firm founded in 2024. Prior to Nelgaard Capital Partners, he served as chief medical affairs officer at Neuvivo Inc., a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to creating therapeutics for the treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and other neurodegenerative diseases. Kovach previously served as executive director, Translational Entrepreneurship, at the University of California Davis Health System, and chief innovation officer of Aggie Square. He received his medical degree with distinction from the University of Kentucky while simultaneously playing in the NFL for seven years as a starting middle linebacker and signal caller with the New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49ers. Following his NFL career, he attended law school at Stanford University and practiced corporate law in Palo Alto, California.

Kovach served as president of the Buck Institute for Age Research, which was named by the NIH as a national center of excellence. While at UC Davis Health and the Buck, he served on the Board of Trustees of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. He served previously as a member of the NFL Head, Neck, and Spine Committee. Kovach is a member of the College Football Academic Hall of Fame, the leading tackler in the history of the University of Kentucky and fourth leading tackler in Southeastern Conference history. He is a member of the SEC Football Legends Hall of Fame. He serves or has served on the Scientific Advisory Boards of BioMerieux, the National Football League Alumni Association, the Sanford Health BioBank for Medical Research, and the Football Players Health Study at Harvard University. He is passionate about developing new therapies to treat and/or cure neurological and cardiovascular diseases, which have been shown through clinical research to disproportionately affect former NFL players.

Jo Ann Pugh, RN, also known as the “50-Yard Line Mom”, is a bestselling author, mentor, and advocate for the health and wellbeing of athletes at all levels. As the founder of 50-Yard Line Mom®, she works tirelessly on behalf of families and professional athletes to improve health outcomes through education and reform. Pugh has held senior-level and key leadership roles at major corporations, including Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 organizations. Her medical background and business experience proved invaluable in helping her son Jordan navigate a career in the NFL. She serves on several advisory boards, including on the Football Players Health Study at Harvard University and Families Experiencing Managing Football Lives (FEM-FL), oversight board for the Black Men’s Brain Health Super Bowl Conference Series at George Washington University and Duke University. She has served as a panelist and guest speaker at national and regional conferences and media events. Pugh is a sought-after keynote speaker, sports strategist consultant, and adjunct professor of nursing. Her bestselling book, “The 50-Yard Line Mom: One Mom’s Journey Through the NFL and Beyond,” has been called “a must-have” for parents of aspiring athletes.

Herman Taylor, MD, MPH, FACC, FAHA, is co-investigator on the Football Players Health Study at Harvard University. He is an endowed professor and director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the Morehouse School of Medicine and a nationally recognized cardiologist with broad experience in invasive practice/research. Taylor’s current research predominantly focuses on preventive cardiology, and his teaching is aimed at building research capacity at minority-serving institutions and enhancing the health of minority communities through research and health activism at the community level. Over the past decade, Taylor held the position of principal investigator and director of the landmark Jackson Heart Study, the largest community-based study of cardiovascular disease among African Americans, funded by National Institute of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. His extensive experience in epidemiological observation has led him to a deeper appreciation of the urgency of community-level intervention as a priority, as well as a keen interest in broadening the diversity of disciplines and scientists focused on the problem of health disparities nationally and globally. A graduate of Princeton University, Taylor earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, trained in internal medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and completed a cardiology fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.