Einstein-Montefiore Research Suggests Frequency Threshold for Injury That Could Lead to Safety Guidelines

Using advanced imaging techniques and cognitive tests, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital and academic medical center for Einstein, have shown that repeatedly heading a soccer ball increases the risk for brain injury and cognitive impairment. The imaging portion of the findings was presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago.

The researchers used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), an advanced MRI-based imaging technique, on 38 amateur soccer players (average age: 30.8 years) who had all played the sport since childhood. They were asked to recall the number of times they headed the ball during the past year. (Heading is when players deliberately hit or field the soccer ball with their head.) Researchers ranked the players based on heading frequency and then compared the brain images of the most frequent headers with those of the remaining players. They found that frequent headers showed brain injury similar to that seen in patients with concussion, also known as mild traumatic brain injury (TBI).

The findings are especially concerning given that soccer is the world’s most popular sport with popularity growing in the U.S., especially among children. Of the 18 million Americans who play soccer, 78 percent are under the age of eighteen. Soccer balls are known to travel at speeds as high as 34 miles per hour during recreational play, and more than twice that during professional play. Read full article at Einstein News…

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Executive MBA Program Offered by SYMS School of Business will Focus on Ethics and Feature Shabbat-Friendly Schedule

Yeshiva University has established an Executive Master of Business Administration program that will be offered on Sundays in order to accommodate the scheduling needs of Sabbath observant Jews and people of other faiths whose tenets might prevent them from attending classes on Friday evenings and Saturdays, when EMBA programs are generally offered.

The Center for Executive and Professional Education at YU’s SYMS School of Business is offering the part-time program, which is designed to help experienced professionals make the jump to senior management.

Candidates should have at least seven years of professional or managerial experience to be eligible for the 22-month program, and be ready to assume leading positions in business or the not-for-profit world. The curriculum will be built on three philosophical pillars that SYMS faculty feels are tantamount to success: an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to management that is grounded in ethics, with a focus on leadership and entrepreneurship in the global marketplace.

“Yeshiva University is proud to offer this program as the next phase in our commitment to building great business leaders for the 21st century,” said Dr. Steven Nissenfeld, professor of management at SYMS School of Business and director of the SYMS EMBA program. “We want students to leave the EMBA program not only with an advanced degree in business, but with a better understanding of the modern global business world and the ethical foundations and the know-how to succeed as a leader in this competitive global marketplace.”

The course study includes an 8-10-day-long international residency each summer. The first year the residency will be held in Israel. In the second year it will be held in a country with an emerging market.

The first semester of the SYMS EMBA program will begin in August 2012. Open houses will be held on December 18, 2011 and in February 2012. Applications for admissions are due April 30, 2012. Classes will be held at Yeshiva University’s Beren Campus in midtown Manhattan on 14 Sundays per semester, including one Friday afternoon per month.

For more information call 917-326-4839, e-mail symsemba@yu.edu or visit www.yu.edu/syms/emba.

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Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to Keynote Yeshiva University Hanukkah Dinner and Convocation on December 11

U.S. Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand will be the keynote speaker at Yeshiva University’s 87th Annual Hanukkah Convocation and Dinner on Sunday, December 11, 2011 at The Waldorf Astoria in New York City. The University will also bestow an honorary doctorate upon Senator Gillibrand, who is best known for her plans to help struggling working families, rebuild the American economy and to strengthen America’s armed services.

YU President Richard M. Joel will also confer honorary degrees upon technology executive Philip Friedman, a member of the University’s Board of Trustees since 2009 and a former member of the board of YU’s SYMS School of Business; real estate developer Ira Mitzner, a Trustee of YU since 2007; and real estate investment executive Stephen B. Siegel, who is a 25-year member of the board at YU’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

The annual Hanukkah Convocation and Dinner draws nearly one thousand of the country’s leading Jewish philanthropists and community leaders. Past speakers at the black tie gala have included Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (then Senator), Senator John McCain, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Vice President Al Gore.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was sworn in as United States Senator from New York in January 2009, filling the seat of current Secretary of State Clinton. Throughout her time in Congress, Gillibrand has been committed to open and honest government and has become known for her transparency, becoming the first member of Congress to post her official public schedule, personal financial disclosure and federal earmark requests online. Gillibrand’s number one priority is to rebuild the American economy by creating jobs, helping small businesses get loans and partnering with the private sector to foster innovation and entrepreneurship.

Philip Friedman, a resident of Livingston, NJ, is chief executive officer of CGS, which specializes in software, systems integration, business process outsourcing, consulting and training. In 2009, Friedman endowed the Alexander Friedman Scholarship Fund in honor of his father, which awards need-based scholarships and paid summer internship opportunities to YU students. Friedman has also been actively involved in the leadership of the SYMS School of Business. He has been committed to Jewish learning throughout his life. He himself learned Hebrew for his Bar Mitzvah in secret while living in the Soviet Union, where outward expression of Judaism was not only discouraged but potentially dangerous.

Ira Mitzner, of Houston, TX, is founder and president of Rida Development Corp.  In 2006, the Mitzner family established the Ruth Buchbinder Mitzner Chair in Talmud and Jewish Law at YU’s Israel campus. His family also has a special connection to YU’s Center for the Jewish Future (CJF), where he established the David Mitzner Presidential Fellowship in honor of his father and the David Mitzner Deanship of CJF, of which Rabbi Kenneth Brander is the inaugural dean. Ira Mitzner’s hotel, ChampionsGate in Orlando, hosts the annual leadership conference sponsored by the CJF.  Mr. Mitzner has been most inspired by his father, who spent eight years in Soviet prison camps and exile in Siberia after his former home (in the heart of the Warsaw Ghetto) was destroyed in the 1940s.

Stephen Siegel, chairman of Global Brokerage, currently an honorary member of the board at Cardozo, has been involved with the law school for 25 years. In commercial real estate circles he is widely regarded as one of the industry’s most talented and prolific professionals. He has recently been honored with Commercial Property News’ Lifetime Achievement Award and named by Crain’s as one of the 100 Most Influential Business Leaders in New York City.

Yeshiva University invites you to attend the December 11 Dinner and Convocation. Contributions support scholarships and can be designated to the University’s school or college of your choice. For more information, reservations and Scroll of Honor opportunities please visit www.yu.edu/hanukkah.

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