When We Were Kings

Submitted by manager on Tue, 01/10/2012 - 22:35

Our SCIENCE ON SCREEN Film Series is an unexpected pairing of current, classic, cult and documentary film with lively introductions by notable experts in science, technology and medicine.

THE FILM: Using deceptively simple editing strategies to combine footage shot in the 70s with interviews staged in the 90s, Leon Gast and Taylor Hackford craft a suspenseful unfolding of the events that culminated in the world-championship heavyweight boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire in 1974. The movie sets the contrasting personalities of the boxers against an elaborate musical, political, and social backdrop. James Brown and B.B. King were in Kinshasa to enhance the event; Norman Mailer and George Plimpton were there to cover it.

Director Leon Gast. 89 mins, Rated PG for images of violence, brief nudity and some language.

With Dr. Zachary Marowitz, Department of Neuropsychology Baystate Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine

THE TOPIC: Sports-related concussions: Current definition, management and treatment, long-term consequences, and why this is suddenly a big deal.

As many as 3.8 million concussions result from sports-related injuries in the U.S. each year. Lack of proper recognition and subsequent management of this type of traumatic brain injury can lead to prolonged recoveries, incomplete recoveries, and in some instances, catastrophic outcomes.

In 2009, Baystate Medical Center began development of a multidisciplinary Sports Concussion Clinic in order to provide the community with a dedicated team of specialists in concussion management and treatment. Since the clinic opened its doors in 2010, the clinic has participated in the care of over two hundred local college, high school, and middle school students suffering from the effects of concussive injuries.“One of our motivations in starting the BMC Sports Concussion Clinic is to help get these kids seen quickly,” says Dr. Marowitz. “So many of the young athletes deal with the problem for so long, experiencing depression or the inability to focus in the classroom, and it just doesn’t have to be that way.”

Dr. Zachary Marowitz is a clinical neuropsychologist on staff in the Department of Neuropsychology at Baystate Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine. He specializes in mild traumatic brain injury, including sports related concussion, pediatric epilepsy, and Alzheimer's and other dementias.

Each film in our SCIENCE ON SCREEN Film Series is used as a jumping off point for the speaker to discuss scientific research, technological advances and other compelling topics, providing the perfect combination of entertainment and enlightenment.