UPMC's David Okonkwo, MD, PhD, Receives Arthur C. Rettig Award for Academic Excellence
March 10, 2025
The NFL Physicians Society (NFLPS) has awarded the Arthur C. Rettig Award for Academic Excellence to UPMC’s David Okonkwo, MD, PhD, team neurosurgeon for the Pittsburgh Steelers, for his groundbreaking research presented at the NFLPS Scientific meeting. Findings from Dr. Okonkwo’s research will help advance how concussions are managed both in the NFL and other settings.
According to the NFLPA, Dr. Okonkwo’s “Fencing Response Following Concussion and Recovery Time, Concussion Severity, Outcomes in Professional American Football Players,” provides essential information that aids the team physician in the management of concussions and represents a great example of the power of the extensive and detailed NFL Injury Surveillance System database.
Congratulations to Dr. Okonkwo on this achievement!
More About Dr. Okonkwo
Dr. Okonkwo is professor of neurological surgery and director of the Neurotrauma Clinical Trials Center at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also director of neurotrauma and the scoliosis and spinal deformity program at UPMC Presbyterian. Dr. Okonkwo is past chair of the AANS/CNS Section on Neurotrauma and Critical Care.
Dr. Okonkwo completed his undergraduate work at the University of Virginia, where he was a Howard Hughes Undergraduate Biomedical Research Scholar. He completed his medical and doctoral education through the MD/PhD program of the Medical College of Virginia of Virginia Commonwealth University.
He joined the University of Pittsburgh Department of Neurological Surgery in 2006 following completion of neurosurgical residency at the University of Virginia and a fellowship at Auckland Public Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand. He has additional specialized training in scoliosis surgery.
Dr. Okonkwo’s clinical interests are traumatic injuries to the brain and spine as well as scoliosis and spinal deformity. His research endeavors involve developing biomarkers, advanced neuroimaging modalities and novel therapeutic interventions for brain and spinal cord injury. Dr. Okonkwo is a principal investigator of a national clinical research network (TRACK-TBI) to advance our understanding and treatment of traumatic brain injury. He is also principal investigator of several ongoing clinical studies in neurotrauma in Pittsburgh.
