Created in 2013, the Pac-12 Student-Athlete Health and Well-Being Initiative (SAHWBI) is a collective effort between the Pac-12 and all 12 member universities to find ways to reduce injuries, share current best practices and latest studies and conduct research to uncover new ways to keep student-athletes as safe as possible.
Due to the current changing landscape of the Pac-12 Conference, the 2024 Grant Cycle is being put on hold.
Please send any questions to health@pac-12.org.
The Pac-12 held a first-of-its-kind Health Equity Summit and convened past and present student-athletes, medical professionals, and athletic training personnel for in-depth presentations and panel discussions related to healthcare disparities in collegiate athletics. The two-day summit was held Jan. 26-27, 2023 on the campus of UCLA and hosted by the Pac-12 Student-Athlete Health & Well-Being Initiative (SAHWBI), in collaboration with the Office of Continuing Medical Education at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Additional support was provided by the NCAA, the American Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) and the U.S. Council for Athletes’ Health (USCAH).
This was the third major healthcare summit hosted by the Pac-12, with previous events focusing on concussion research in 2017 and student-athlete mental health in 2020.
Takeaway Resources: Pac-12 Health Equity Summit
- Video recordings of each presentation from the summit are available here: pac12.me/HES-videos.
- Additional takeaway resources related to the summit and health equity in general, including the slideshow presentations from the speakers and key takeaways from the event, are available here: pac12.me/HES-takeaways.
- A complete program brochure for the event, including participating speakers and Pac-12 student-athletes information, can be found here.
Travel funding is available for student-athletes from Pac-12 institutions for research projects related to student-athlete health and well-being using data collected from the Health Analytics Program’s ‘Research Portal.' Projects should answer a simple research question.
Download Application: 2023 Cycle - SAHWBI Student-Athlete Research and Travel Awards (click to download)
Examples of such topics are:
- Epidemiology of hamstring strains in football and men’s and women’s soccer
- Time-loss injuries in women’s basketball
- What has been the trend of ACL injuries in female compared to male soccer athletes?
Students-athletes will be expected to present a poster type session of their findings at the Pac-12 Student-Athlete Health Conference (May 11-13, 2023) and should identify a research mentor at their institution, or through the Pac-12, to assist in fully developing the research question and with data analysis. For help identifying a research mentor talk to your team physician, athletic trainer or the Student-Athlete Health and Wellness Board member at your institution.
The Pac-12 Student-Athlete Health and Well-Being Initiative (SAHWBI) is a collective effort between the Conference and our member universities to find ways to keep student athletes safe, and we’d like to collaborate with interested partners to improve our research.
Industry partners interested in engaging the Pac-12 SAHWBI, and interested Pac-12 researchers, should direct initial inquiries to Pac-12 Research Development Director, Dr. Kimberly Harmon at kharmon@uw.edu.
Student-athlete health and safety is the primary focus of SAHWBI and our Initiative harnesses the full resources of the Pac-12's research institutions for the benefit of our current and future student-athletes. Dr. Harmon works collaboratively with appropriate Pac-12 representatives and other individuals to provide guidance related to Pac-12 student-athlete projects. She will be happy to work with and connect interested parties to researchers at their institutions.
More developed inquiries can be submitted via our formal Research Collaboration Request Form.
More information on the SAHWBI, and how interested parties may be able to have an impact on the health and well-being of our student-athletes, can be found here.