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Contact Information

Send email to Dr. Caswell

Phone: (703) 993-4638
Email: scaswell (@gmu.edu)

George Mason University
Science and Technology Campus
Katherine G. Johnson Hall 201
10890 George Mason Circle
MS 4E5
Manassas, VA 20110

Profile

Dr. Shane V. Caswell is a Professor of Athletic Training in the Department of Kinesiology, Sport and Hospitality Management, where he teaches and mentors students in athletic training and sports medicine research. He is the founding Executive Director of the Sports Medicine, Assessment, Research and Testing (SMART) Laboratory and holds affiliate appointments in the Institute for BioHealth Innovation and the Center for Evidence-Based Behavioral Health.

Dr. Caswell studies how young athletes get hurt and how those injuries can be prevented, recognized, and better managed. His work focuses on middle school and youth sports, an age group that has received far less research attention than high school or college athletics. He works alongside schools, families, clinicians, and sport organizations rather than in a laboratory alone, an approach known as community-based participatory research. His research has been supported by more than $13 million in external funding from federal agencies, state and local government, private foundations, national governing bodies and standards organizations, professional and scientific associations, and industry.

Much of that work takes place through the Advancing Healthcare Initiatives for Underserved Students (ACHIEVES) Project, a partnership with a Virginia public school division that he founded and directs. For more than a decade, ACHIEVES has placed athletic trainers in middle schools serving families with limited access to private healthcare, providing approximately 23,000 free on-site services to students each year. The same partnership supports a training program for early-career athletic trainers and a long-running injury surveillance platform that has produced some of the field's primary evidence on sports injury and concussion in late childhood and early adolescence.

He also founded and directs the Virginia Concussion Initiative (concussion.gmu.edu), a statewide program formed in partnership with the Virginia Department of Health. The Initiative brings together a multidisciplinary team of medical professionals, researchers, educators, and school personnel from across Virginia and beyond, working toward three aims: raising awareness of concussion and brain health across communities, sharing current evidence and best practices in a form people can actually use, and supporting schools and communities as they adapt those practices to their own circumstances. Its work includes free tools and resources for families, schools, and healthcare providers, along with a tele-mentoring program and a virtual community of practice that connect school personnel and clinicians with specialists. Among its resources is the Neurodiversity Toolkit, the first concussion resource of its kind for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, which was used by medical staff at the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games.

Dr. Caswell's research has helped shape Virginia state law and school concussion guidelines, as well as national playing rules and protective equipment standards. He serves on the Research Subcommittee of the World Lacrosse Medical Commission and previously served on the Sports Science and Safety Committee of USA Lacrosse. He has also served on the Health and Science Policy Committee of the American College of Sports Medicine and the Research Committee of the National Athletic Trainers' Association Foundation, and he serves on the editorial boards of PM&R and Injury Epidemiology.

He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and given more than 300 presentations, most with student co-authors, and has supported more than 60 graduate students through funded research assistantships. His work has been recognized with the Earle C. Williams Presidential Medal for Faculty Excellence in Social Impact from George Mason University, the Marsha Grant-Ford Distinguished Research Award from the National Athletic Trainers' Association, the Community Impact Award from the Potomac Health Foundation, and Researcher of the Year honors from the Virginia Athletic Trainers' Association, which he has received twice. He is a Fellow of the National Athletic Trainers' Association. He earned his BS from the State University of New York College at Brockport and his MS and PhD from Ohio University.

Research Interests

Pediatric sports medicine, injury prevention, and brain health

Recent Publications

Selected Pulications 

Hacherl SL, Herman DC, Martin JR, Kelshaw PM, Avramovic S, Caswell SV. Characterizing Clinical Recovery in MS Female Athletes Following Sport-Related Concussion: A Sex-Comparative Analysis. The Journal of Athletic Training. 2026; In Press.

Martin J, Avramovic S, Feigel E, Caswell SV. Longitudinal Assessment of Morning Hemodynamics, Hydration, and Perceived Stress in Fire Academy Trainees. Translational Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine. 2026;11(3):e000366.

Hacherl SL, Herman DC, Martin JR, Kelshaw PM, Avramovic S, Caswell SV. Sex Differences in Concussion Rates among Middle School Sex-comparable Sports. The Journal of Pediatrics: Clinical Practice. 2026;20:200200. doi:10.1016/j.jpedcp.2026.200200

Bowman, T. G., Boergers, R. J., Caswell, S. V., Conway, D., Mills, W. J., Putukian, M., Merritt, M., Vescovi, J. D., Strapp, E., Loehr, K., Monnin, J., Vozzo, R., Hatch, R., Wesley Siler, C., & Scarneo-Miller, S. E. (2025). Prehospital care of suspected spine-injured lacrosse athletes: A systematic search, evidence review, and consensus recommendations. British Journal of Sports Medicine, bjsports-2024-108951. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2024-108951

Caswell, S. V., Kelshaw, P. M., Hacherl, S. L., Lincoln, A. E., & Herman, D. C. (2024). *Headgear Mandates in High School Girls’ Lacrosse: Investigating Differences in Impact Rates and Game Play Behaviors. Annals of Medicine, 56(1), 2362862. https://doi.org/10.1080/07853890.2024.2362862

Kelshaw, P. M., Fine, A. C., Beidler, E., & Caswell, S. V. (2024). Language Matters: Comparisons of Concussion Assessments Among English-and Spanish-Speaking Middle School Athletes. Journal of Athletic Training, 59(5), 493–498. https://meridian.allenpress.com/jat/article/doi/10.4085/1062-6050-0362.23/497261

Wallace, K., Scarneo-Miller, S. E., Monnin, J., Lincoln, A. E., Hraky, O., Gosnell, G., Jeong, S., Skinner, W., Schaefer, E., Desai, D. K., & Caswell, S. V. (2024). **Systematic Mapping Review of Player Safety, Sport Science and Clinical Care in Lacrosse. British Journal of Sports Medicine, bjsports-2024-108298. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2024-108298

 

Campus Affiliations

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