Deena Casiero, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Deena Casiero is currently the NCAA chief medical officer and senior vice president of the Sport Science Institute. She serves as the primary liaison to the Association on matters of student-athlete mental and physical health, safety and performance. She oversees the operation and management of the Sport Science Institute and works collaboratively with the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports, which is the membership health and safety committee for the NCAA. She is a member of the senior staff and serves as a direct advisor on health and safety matters to the NCAA president, NCAA leadership and NCAA members.

Prior to joining the NCAA in August 2024, she served as the senior associate athletics director for sports medicine and head team physician at UConn from 2015-24. Before joining the staff at UConn, she was the head team physician and medical director at Hofstra, served as the tournament physician and director of player medical services for the U.S. Open Tennis Championships and worked as the assistant team physician for the NHL’s New York Islanders from 2010-15.

Casiero received her undergraduate degree in athletic training from Springfield College in 1999 and graduated with a medical degree from New York Medical College in 2006. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in New York from 2006-09 and completed her training with a primary care sports medicine fellowship at UConn from 2009-10. She is a member of the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine. 

Nicki Pieart, M.S.Ed.
Managing Director

Nicki Pieart joined the NCAA in March 2025 and serves as the managing director of the NCAA Sport Science Institute. She leads the SSI in its mission to promote and develop safety, excellence and wellness in college student-athletes, and to foster lifelong physical and mental development. In this capacity, she is responsible for SSI strategic planning and operational oversight, governance support, national representation and leadership, as well as membership outreach.

Prior to joining the NCAA, Pieart served as the director of athletics at Lake Forest College for three years, where she oversaw 25 varsity programs and lead efforts to enhance competitive success, student-athlete development and departmental operations. Before that, she spent 14 years at Aurora University in various roles, including head athletic trainer, senior woman administrator and associate athletic director, where she played a critical role in student-athlete health and safety, sport supervision, compliance and operational leadership.

Pieart has also been actively involved in NCAA governance, having previously served as chair of the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports and as a member of the NCAA Division III Management Council.

A former two-sport collegiate student-athlete, she earned her bachelor’s degree in athletic training from Aurora University and a master’s degree in education with a specialization in exercise physiology from Northern Illinois University.

Anne Rohlman
Managing Director of Governance and Development

Anne Rohlman joined the NCAA in July 2013 and the Sport Science Institute in June 2021. As the Managing Director of Governance and Development, Anne provides strategic direction for SSI’s governance portfolio, education plan, communications strategy and development efforts. Specifically, Anne is the primary liaison to the Committee for Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports and is responsible for cultivating external partnerships that align with the Association’s health, safety and performance priorities.

Before working in SSI, Anne served the NCAA membership in Academic and Membership Affairs, where she oversaw the Division I legislative process, supported the NCAA Division I Legislation Committee and led teams in academics and rules compliance. 

Prior to joining the NCAA, Anne worked in compliance and academics at Indiana University, her alma mater. While attending IU as an undergraduate, Anne played club rugby and was the team manager for the varsity softball team. After graduating magna cum laude, she continued studying rhetoric and public culture at IU and earned her Master's degree in Communication and Culture.

LaGwyn Durden, ATC, LAT
Director of Sports Medicine

LaGwyn Durden, a native of Jacksonville, Florida, joined the NCAA as its first director of sports medicine in January 2018. A long-time member of The University of Texas at Austin sports medicine staff, Durden served as Texas’ associate athletics director for sports medicine, overseeing healthcare delivery to 17 Longhorns teams and coordinating women’s health and wellness programming. Additionally, she served as the athletic trainer for women’s track and field/cross country for more than 20 years. Durden earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in exercise and sports sciences at the University of Florida and is a member of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, Southwest Athletic Trainers’ Association and Texas State Athletic Trainers’ Association. She served as a member of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games sports medicine staff and was a member of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Intercollegiate Council for Sports Medicine. Durden chaired the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports and was a member of the NCAA Commission to Combat Campus Sexual Violence. In the oversight of the SSI’s sports medicine line, she serves as the point of contact for the membership for a broad portfolio of topics including concussion, cardiac health, nutrition, overuse injuries and periodization.

Carey Wheelhouse, PhD, PA-C
Director of Health Promotion

Dr. Carey Wheelhouse is the director of health promotion in the NCAA Sport Science Institute. In this role, Carey oversees the SSI health promotion service line, serving as the membership point of contact on topics including mental health, substance misuse prevention and harm reduction, interpersonal violence prevention, sleep and student-athlete health promotion.

Prior to joining SSI in 2022, Carey was the director of clinical assessment and assistant professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center Division of PA Education. As a nationally certified PA, Carey has over 10 years of team-based patient-care experience. She has provided care to a broad range of athletes, including collegiate athletes, in orthopedics and sports medicine settings and she also practiced in behavioral health.

Carey earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and her master’s degree in PA studies from the University of South Dakota. Carey completed an executive fellowship in addiction medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where she also earned her PhD in health promotion.

Mallory Mickus, ATC, LAT
Associate Director of Sports Medicine

Mallory Mickus joined the NCAA staff in January 2022 as associate director of sports medicine. As a member of the SSI team, Mallory will manage sports medicine initiatives, with emphasis on the health and safety priority areas of data-driven decisions, nutrition and performance, and overuse injuries and periodization. A key area of responsibility will be to provide staff oversight of the NCAA Injury Surveillance Program. She will assist in the conduct and oversight of the NCAA Drug Testing Program and related drug testing appeals activities. 

Prior to joining the SSI team, she was an associate athletic trainer for the beach volleyball team at Louisiana State University. Mallory spent four years as an assistant athletic trainer for the women’s gymnastics team at LSU as well. During her time at LSU, Mallory served as a clinical preceptor to the undergraduate athletic training students. She also spent six years as an adjunct instructor within the athletic training program. Mallory earned her bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology from Indiana University and her graduate degree in Higher Education with emphasis in Leadership and Learning from Iowa State University.

Alicia Fine, MS, ATC
Associate Director of Health Promotion

Alicia Fine joined the NCAA Sport Science Institute in May 2023 as Associate Director of Health Promotion. As a member of the team, she will support the management of the SSI health promotion portfolio, addressing priority initiatives that include mental health and well-being, sexual violence prevention, substance misuse prevention, sleep, nutrition and performance. 

Prior to joining the NCAA, Alicia was a faculty member at the University of New Hampshire for three years where she launched and served as coordinator for the undergraduate health sciences program. In this role, she developed and instructed musculoskeletal pathologies, allied health and public health curriculum. Alicia earned her bachelor’s degree in athletic training from the University of Alabama and her master’s degree in health and human physiology from the University of Iowa while serving as a graduate assistant athletic trainer for the men’s and women’s tennis teams.

Alex Purcell
Associate Director of Policy, Education, and Strategic Engagement

Alex Purcell joined the NCAA Sport Science Institute in May 2023. Alex supports the development of education, policy and strategic initiatives to assist member schools across the Association in promoting student-athlete health, safety and success. Specifically, Alex provides strategic and operational oversight of the educational programs and resources in support of the Association’s strategic priorities for student-athlete well-being.

Alex joined the SSI team with over 10 years of public health experience in clinical, academic and community settings. Most recently, Alex served as the Director of Public Health Practice and Interim Director of the MPH & Strategic Planning for the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington. Alex earned his Bachelor’s Degree in kinesiology and a Master of Public Health from the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington. 

Crystal Rogers, M.S.
Assistant Director of Education and Strategic Engagement

Crystal Rogers joined SSI in August 2019 as the Assistant Director of Education and Strategic Engagement. Rogers has more than 10 years experience at the NCAA managing brand oversight, communications campaigns and educational publications, in addition to three years of project management and copywriting experience for the communications department at Hoosier Energy in Bloomington, Ind. Her expertise in email marketing, web content management and social media strategy provide SSI the ability to effectively and strategically communicate important health and safety information to key stakeholders.

Rogers earned her bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications from Ball State University and her graduate degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from West Virginia University. She holds a Strategic Communications certification from Purdue University.

Laura Firsich Arnett, B.S.
Executive Coordinator to the Chief Medical Officer

Laura Firsich Arnett joined SSI in May 2018. Her primary responsibilities include providing administrative support to the NCAA Chief Medical Officer. Previously, Laura served as executive assistant to the president, chief nursing officer and senior staff of the St. Vincent | Ascension Health Fishers and Carmel campuses. Prior to her time at St. Vincent’s, Arnett worked for more than 17 years for the Marion County Superior Courts where she began her career as a caseload officer serving the mental health population then served as a pre-sentence investigator. Arnett graduated from Indiana University, Bloomington with a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice and a minor in psychology.

Amanda Dickey
Coordinator

Amanda Dickey joined SSI in January 2018. Her primary responsibilities include providing administrative support to the SSI managing director, as well as other SSI team members. She has more than 10 years of experience in clinical office administration and administrative support and has received a LEAN Six Sigma certification.