Kristen L. Kucera, PhD, ATC
Associate Professor of Exercise and Sport Science
Kristen L. Kucera, PhD, ATC, is director of the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research (http://nccsir.unc.edu). Evaluation and improved surveillance for sports and work-related injuries are two of her key research areas. An epidemiologist and certified athletic trainer, Kucera’s other research interests include sport and occupational injury epidemiology with an emphasis on musculoskeletal disorders, ergonomics, and return to work. Her projects have addressed problems in commercial fishermen, carpenters, youth and collegiate soccer athletes, certified athletic trainers, military cadets, and university hospital employees. She joined UNC’s faculty in 2013 after serving as an assistant professor in the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Duke University Medical Center. Kucera received her undergraduate degree (BS, 1994) in Athletic Training at Linfield College (McMinnville, OR). She completed her master’s (MSPH, 2002) and doctoral (PhD, 2006) degrees in the Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.