Who's Who?

William "Pete" Snell (right picture) was a popular amateur sports car race driver who was killed in a crash in 1956. He died of massive head injuries when the auto racing helmet he was wearing failed to protect his head.

Directors

Harold A. Fenner, Jr., M.D., President of the Board of Directors, received his medical degree at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine and has trained in hospitals in California, Texas and Kentucky, as well as with the U.S. Air force. A pioneer in football helmet safety Dr. Fenner developed the first football helmet standard-JF73. As chairman of the American Medical Association Committee for Medical Aspects of Automotive Safety, he was involved in the development of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. He was an early advocate of automobile airbags and was instrumental in the establishment of passive restraint standards as well as the development of the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS). 

He was and active race car driver during the 1950's, participating in both Sebring Florida Races and Mexican Road Race.

His Professional life has been devoted to the treatment of orthopedic trauma, and belongs to many professional groups involved in head protection. He has held over 30 medically-related appointments including committee work with the American Medical Association and the United States Department of Transportation.

Daniel J. Thomas, M.D., M.P.H. Treasurer - brings to the Snell board the rare ingredients of scholarship, scientific and medical credentials, research, teaching and writing in the field of head, neck and spine injury. He is a consultant in biomedical engineering. He also has served the U.S. government in a number of important scientific and medical areas including Deputy Scientific Director and Research Medical Officer of the Naval Biodynamics Laboratory, New Orleans, LA and Chief, Human Research Division, Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory, New Orleans, LA.

Dr. Thomas received his medical education at Jefferson Medical School, Philadelphia, PA; U.S. Naval School of Aviation Medicine, and Master of Public Health at the Harvard School of Public Health. Additionally, his credentials include Fellow of American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Diplomate of the American Board of Preventive Medicine (Aerospace Medicine) and Diplomate of the National Board of Medical Examiners.

Dr. Thomas’s field of expertise is in occupational medicine, head, neck and spinal trauma and he is the author and collaborator of more than 50 published papers in the scientific area.

William H. Muzzy III Secretary - Since 1967, Mr. Muzzy has conducted extensive research into the forces governing the motions of occupants under crash conditions.  During this time he has conducted dynamic testing using human volunteers, cadavers, primates and anthropomorphic test devices (dummies) with a variety of seats and seat belts.  His achievements include conducting the first air bag tests series with human volunteers in 1969 and conducting a feasibility study for equipping a military attack helicopter with a small air bag to protect the gunner’s head from impacting the sighting device in 1987. He has designed, built and operated a number of "man-rated" test facilities in conjunction with his research.

During his employment with Dynalectron Corporation from 1967 through 1970, he supervised the operation of three man-rated impact test facilities (two horizontal accelerators and one vertical accelerator) for the US Air Force in New Mexico where over 3000 impact acceleration tests were run with human volunteers.

From 1971 through 1990 he was employed as Chief Engineer for a US Navy research laboratory located at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in eastern New Orleans studying the effects of impact acceleration and vibration on humans.  Over his twenty year career with the Naval Biodynamics Laboratory he designed, built and man-rated a vertical acceleration facility, a ship motion simulator and a rotational chair for studying the motion awareness effects. 

Throughout his research career he has conducted over 5500 impact tests with human volunteers and numerous other experiments on the vibration and ship motion facilities. Within the crash safety field he is nationally recognized as an expert in: occupant restraint systems; airbags; child restraints; ejection seats; and; crashworthy protection systems. 

Mr. Muzzy has written over 55 technical research papers on the effects of impact acceleration and vibration on the human body.  In 1996 a patent on automotive seat design was issued to him.

William C. Chilcott, Ph.D.  is the owner of the Marine Testing Company which primarily does accident reconstruction and accident re-creation on small water craft. In addition, the company does research and development on safety equipment.

He developed safe boat crashing techniques by study and accident re-creation and safe high-speed body entry techniques into water. He personally raced inboard hydroplanes for 21 years and owns and flies several aircraft.

Channing L. Ewing, M.D., M.P.H. received his medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia and his Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins.

He is certified by the American Board of Preventive Medicine, (Aerospace Medicine), is an elected Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association, a Fellow of the American Board of Preventive Medicine, and a recipient of the Navy Legion of Merit. He was awarded the John Paul Stapp Award of the Aerospace Medical Association in 1996 for Outstanding Research on Dynamic Effects of Acceleration on Living Humans.

Dr. Ewing, a leader in scientific research in biomechanics and human biodynamics, founded the U.S. Navy’s Biodynamics Laboratory in New Orleans, LA, and served as the first Officer in Charge, Scientific Director and then as Chief Scientist. Under his leadership, the largest body of living human head and neck dynamic response data extant was measured and is now in use all over the world.

He has served on numerous scientific committees in and out of the U.S. Government, and was the Navy’s expert on crash helmet design for a number of years. He played a major part in the design of the Army’s standard helicopter helmet, the SPH-4, used for 22 years.

Dr. Ewing was awarded the Liljencrantz Award for the leading acceleration research for the year by the Aerospace Medical Association in 1977 and has published numerous scientific papers as author or coauthor. He is a former member of CHABA Committee, NAS/NRC.

Richard G. Snyder, Ph.D. is an internationally known research scientist with 48 years of expertise in human impact tolerances and trauma mechanisms, biomechanics, forensic anthropology and anthropometry, crash protection, and transportation safety. He served as Director of the NASA Center of Excellence in Man Systems Research; Head of the Biomedical Department, Research Scientist, and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan; Manager of Biomechanics at the Ford Motor Company; Chief of Physical Anthropology and intermittent Chief of Protection and Survival Laboratories, Civil Aeromedical Institute, Federal Aviation Agency; Associate Professor of Systems Engineering, University of Arizona; and on faculties of Michigan State, University of Chicago, and University of Oklahoma.

After military service as a decorated Air Force fighter pilot in Korea, he received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. (physical anthropology/zoology) degrees at the University of Arizona, with additional graduate study at Cornell University. He is Board certified in forensic anthropology (D.ABFA); a Fellow in Aerospace Medicine (F.AsMA).

Author of over 400 scientific publications and presentations, including the chapter on “Impact” in the NASA BioAstronaut Data Book, Dr. Snyder has served with such organizations as the Aerospace Medical Panel (BioDynamics; expert consultant), AGARD-NATA, the Executive Council of CHABA, the Committee on Federal Trauma Research of the National Academy of Sciences—National Research Council, the Naval Research Advisory Committee, and Centers for Disease Control Impact Trauma Advisory Committee.

His research has been internationally recognized by awards from the National Safety Council, Society of Automotive Engineers, Flight Safety Foundation, Aerospace Medical Association, and American Academy of Forensic Sciences. He received the John Paul Stapp Award in Aerospace Biomechanics, was inducted into the Safety and Health Hall of Fame International, and the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame, and in 2004 honored by named professorship, Richard G. Snyder Distinguished University Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan.

Thomas A. Gennarelli, M.D., M.A.,FACS, 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 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, 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.

Members

Paul H. Appel, Esq.  is advisor to numerous public, private and not-for-profit corporations and other businesses and real estate organizations. He has developed and established effective procedures for litigation anticipation and avoidance. Mr. Appel is a recognized advocate in federal and state tribunals.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Lafayette College and his J.D. from Columbia Law School. He is a member of the New York Bar, the New Jersey Bar and various United States District Courts and Courts of Appeal.

Executive Director

Edward B. Becker is the Executive Director for the Foundation. Prior to joining Snell in 1989, he worked for the Naval Biodynamics Laboratory in New Orleans studying human response to crash impact acceleration. Mr. Becker holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the Foundation's senior employee and is responsible to the Board of Directors for the operation of all the Foundation's helmet certification programs.

Members Emeritus

Harry M. Philo, Esq. is author of several books including the Lawyers Desk Reference and Preventable Injury and Disease in America as well as over 50 articles in the safety and engineering technical literature and in law review and legal publications. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Products Liability and has been associated with the Snell Memorial Foundation for 25 years.

Arthur Tebby  brought over 30 years of experience in helmet testing to the Foundation, joining Albury Laboratories in 1956 to work with Government Road Research Laboratories in the development of electronic shock absorption test equipment. He was responsible for the development and testing of lightweight flying helmet, in conjunction with the Institute of Aviation Medicine, for the Royal Aircraft Establishment. Mr. Tebby served as the Managing Director of the Snell Memorial Foundation, U.K. Ltd. for over a decade, and was a member of the Foundation's Board of Directors until his death in 2002.

Staff 2006

(From Left to Right) (Front row) Randy McCarty, Hong Zhang, Gib Brown. (back row) Edward Becker, Steve Johnson, Bonnie Adams, Jim Barnes, Denis Anishchenko, Jasen Murphy, Allen Harris.