Jamie Mansell, associate professor of instruction and program director of graduate athletic training programs in the Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, has been named a 2022 National Award Winner by the National Athletic Trainers' Association. The Athletic Trainer Service award recognizes Mansell’s work to advance athletic training as a public health discipline at the state and local levels. 

“My passion projects within the state are really about the education of students, and elevating cultural competence and diversity in athletic training,” says Mansell, who serves on the executive board and has held multiple positions in the Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers’ Society.

She also promotes athletic training as a component of local public health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mansell helped lead an effort to expand the role of athletic trainers to assist in administering vaccines. As a result of the effort, state laws that limited athletic trainers to treating, evaluating and rehabbing athletes were temporarily extended to allow ATs to help vaccinate and test the broader population.

“It’s only been within the last 10 to 15 years that people really started to say, ‘Hey, we're actually not coaches. We aren't teaching people how to lift weights. We're healthcare providers,’” Mansell says. “Being in the College of Public Health, that’s something we know a lot about. But it's not necessarily something many other ATs have thought through.” 

Mansell will receive her award at the 2022 NATA annual convention in Philadelphia in late June.