The University of Kansas Jayhawk Athletic Performance Laboratory hosted the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance Leadership meeting March 15th–16th. Representatives from the participating Alliance members attended the meeting held in the University of Kansas Welcome Center. The participating institutions include — University of Kansas, Stanford University, University of Oregon, University of California — San Diego, Boston Children’s Hospital, and the Salk Institute.
Opening comments were delivered by Dr. Andy Fry — Director of Jayhawk Athletic Performance Laboratory and meeting host, Dr. Scott Delp – Stanford University and Leadership Council Chair, and Tom Skalak — Senior Advisor for the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation. The keynote speaker was Dr. Neal Kingston, the Vice Provost of Jayhawk Global and Competency Based Education at the University of Kansas. The rest of the first day was spent viewing research posters of work being done by the Jayhawk Athletic Performance Laboratory. The attendees were also given tours of the laboratories used by JAPL.
Day two of the meeting was highlighted by several round table discussions. One featured the end users of the research being done by the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance, coaches and team medical officials. The panel included University of Kansas Head Rowing Coach Carrie Cook-Callen, Mike Deane, former Division I mens basketball coach, Dr. Cindy Chang — Chief Medical Officer for the National Women’s Soccer League, Dr. Austin Driggers — Executive Associate AD for Peak Performance at Dartmouth and former Director of Performance Science for the Kansas City Royals, and Dr. Bradly Nindl — Vice Chair of Research, Department of Sports Medicine and Nutrition and Professor and Director, Neuromuscular Research Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh. They discussed the importance of the research being done and the importance of promoting the research.
Both Tom Skalak, Senior Advisor for the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation and Dr. Andrew Fry, Director of the Jayhawk Athletic Performance Laboratory were pleased with the two day Leadership Meeting.
Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance
The Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance seeks the unknown principles of peak performance, so that they can be translated to youth development, athletic excellence, adult resiliency, and long, healthy lifespans.
The Alliance is funded by the Joe and Clara Wu Tsai foundation. Clara was born in Lawrence when her father was an economics professor at the University of Kansas. They are committed to improving the lives of people throughout the world through fundamental scientific research, arts and culture, and social justice programs. Their belief in the value of new knowledge to solve society’s biggest challenges motivated them to create the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance. We will explore new directions to help people thrive throughout life, building on decades of scientific research with the goal of improving human health and well-being on a global scale.
The Alliance leverages an untapped reservoir of knowledge through the application of science, technology, and analytical rigor to the study of athletic performance, injury prevention, and injury recovery throughout life. By comprehensively studying athletes of various ages, genders, ethnicities, abilities, and disciplines, we are discovering the biological principles that govern optimum performance, from the molecular level to the whole body.
The Human Performance Alliance weaves together three synergistic scientific programs to accelerate high-impact advances in human performance: scientific moonshots, innovation hubs, and agility projects. Involving collaborators from multiple disciplines and institutions around the country, these programs provide both breadth and depth in exploring and applying the fundamentals of peak performance to human health and well-being.
The research leads to broader societal impact through our education, communication, and partnerships programs. These programs enable us to develop a new generation of research leaders and collaborate with the community in designing our research studies and sharing our research outcomes.
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