In This Issue

1. New Snell Board Member
2. Dr. George Snively Inducted into SCCA Hall of Fame
3. FIA Super Helmets Testing
4. Snell/FIA Children's Helmet Effort

 New Snell Board Member

The Foundation’s Board of Directors are pleased and honored to welcome Dr. Thomas A. Gennarelli as the Foundation’s newest member. Dr. Gennarelli, an internationally renowned clinician and researcher in the field of traumatic head injuries, has advanced knowledge in the biomechanical causes of brain injury and has pioneered modern studies on a severe type of brain injury and has named it diffuse axonal injury (DAI). Prior to his current position as Professor and Chair, Department of Neurosurgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Dr. Gennarelli served as professor and chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Drexel University and directed one of the five NIH-funded injury centers in the nation for more than a decade at the University of Pennsylvania. Recognition of Dr. Gennarelli’s accomplishments is also evident in his role as a consultant or special advisor to 20 major injury prevention programs, and as a visiting professor to 50 universities in the United States and abroad. He has published over 340 original research papers, written 41 book chapters and five editions of "The Abbreviated Injury Scale," the international standard for determining the severity of bodily injuries.

Among his honors are membership in Alpha Omega Alpha, the national medical honor society, and Alpha Sigma Nu, the national Jesuit honor society. Dr. Gennarelli has received the National Head Injury Foundation's Caveness Award for outstanding contribution to head injury studies, the Association of Advancement of Automotive Medicine's Award of Merit for contributions to brain injury research, the National Association of Medical Examiners award for contributions to forensic medicine, and the NIH’s only award for contributions to brain injury research.

Dr. Gennarelli received his medical degree with honors from Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago.  He completed a surgery internship at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medicine Center, a neurology/neurophysiology fellowship at Harvard Medicine School, and a residency in neurological surgery at Georgetown University. Board certified in Neurological Surgery, he has been named to “America’s Best Doctor’s” since 1987.

Dr. Thomas A. Gennarelli joins eight other directors and members on the Foundation’s current Board. They are Dr. Harold A. Fenner, President; Dr. Daniel J. Thomas, Vice President/Treasurer; Dr. William C. Chilcott, Secretary; Dr. Channing L. Ewing, Director of Research; Dr. Richard G. Snyder, Mr. William Muzzy, III; Mr. Paul Appel, Esq. and Mr. Harry Philo, Esq.

 Dr. George Snively Inducted into SCCA Hall of Fame

Dr. George A. Snively was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the San Francisco Region Sports Car Club of America. (SCCA). Dr. Harold Fenner, President of Snell, and Mr. Gib Brown, Snell’s Director of Test Development and a long time friend of the late Dr. Snively, attended the ceremony honoring Dr. Snively on June 10, 2006 in Willows, California.

Dr. Snively was the principal architect of the Snell Memorial Foundation. In 1956, at the time of William “Pete” Snell’s crash, Dr. Snively had already been interested in helmets and crash injury protection. Fired by Snell’s needless death and with the support and encouragement of the SCCA and Pete’s friends and loved ones, Snively intensified his efforts. Within a few years, under Snively’s leadership, the newly incorporated Snell Memorial Foundation published the first Snell standard for protective headgear. Over the next twenty years, Snively revised this standard continually upward demanding more and more protective performance from the helmet industry. Thanks to the support of the auto racing public, whose numbers were soon swelled by a considerably larger motorcycling public, Snively got that improved performance.

Thanks to Dr. Snively, we here at today’s Snell Memorial Foundation are heirs to a considerable legacy. We are grateful to the San Francisco Region of the Sports Car Club of America for the honor done Dr. Snively and, by extension, the Foundation Pete Snell inspired and George Snively brought into being. The award will keep us all reminded of our obligations to the Foundation, to the auto racing and motorcycling public, and to the memories of Mr. William “Pete” Snell and Dr. George A. Snively.

FIA Super Helmet Testing

The Foundation is currently developing the capability to test helmets to the requirements of FIA 8860-2005, the FIA Advanced Helmet Specification currently demanded for helmets used in Formula 1 events. The test hardware has already been brought in-house. We are busily setting it up and working up procedures for its use.

Snell/FIA Children’s Helmet Effort

FIA, the Fédération Internationale de l’ Automobile, and the Snell Memorial Foundation have begun working toward a joint Snell/FIA standard for children’s motor sports helmets. The Foundation requests that manufacturers currently considering building and submitting headgear for certification to CM2006, the current Snell standard for children’s motor-sport helmets, table their plans. New FIA research as well as a Snell sponsored study at the University of Washington, may suggest modifications to some of the details currently in CM2006.
 

Who to Contact at Snell

Editor: Hong Zhang, Director of Education

copyright 2006, Snell Memorial Foundation, Inc. - HeadsUp Issue 43