Historically concussions were not taken seriously enough. This resulted in a lack of specialization compared to other sports injuries. However, there are now starting to be fellowship-trained concussion specialists. As such, Dr. Todd Caze II is a fellowship-trained sports neuropsychologist. He is the first to complete a two-year sports medicine fellowship in pediatric concussion and one of only 25 in the country to complete a fellowship in concussion. He is currently the owner of Caze Concussion Institute.
Dr. Caze is passionate about increasing access to specialty concussion care in order to get people back to their normalcy as quickly as possible. This focus on early access coupled with an evidence-based approach to treatment results in a lower cost to families, less life disruption, and minimizes the risk of long-term effects from concussion.
In his free time, Dr. Caze enjoys spending time with his family, coaching his kids’ sports, and golfing
Dr. Caze worked as a school counselor before going into private practice as a counselor specializing in working with youth. Dr. Caze received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he was embedded in athletic medicine providing individual and team performance psychology along with concussion management services. Dr. Caze completed his residency at UCLA Semel Institute in adult neuropsychology and did a rotation at UCLA BrainSport with Dr. Chris Giza. Dr. Caze then went on to complete the first fellowship in pediatric concussion in a sports medicine setting at Children’s Health Andrews Institute in Plano, TX. There he trained with Dr. Scott Burkhart and saw over two thousand concussions through sideline evaluations, in-person office, and virtual visits. Many times, patients were seen within an hour of their injury.
“Research is what allows us to constantly be evolving our care and provide precision medicine.” Dr. Caze is an active participant in research and takes a scientist-practitioner approach, meaning that research is constantly informing how to improve patient care. Dr. Caze is passionate about eliminating health equity disparities and current research focuses on highlighting the current disparities that exist in access to specialty concussion care. Dr. Caze has published several peer-reviewed articles and is the first to publish on how to deliver tele-concussion services. Current research awards include the 2021 Sports Neuropsychology Society Dissertation award and the 2021 Pediatric Research in Sports Medicine Minder S. Kocher Award for Most Promising Career.
Selected publications include:
Caze II, T., Knell, G., Abt, J., & Burkhart, S.O. (2020) Management and Treatment of Concussions via Tele-Concussion in a Pediatric Setting: Methodological Approach and Descriptive Analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research Pediatrics and Parenting, 3(2).:e19924. PMID: 32634106 DOI: 10.2196/19924.
Caze II, T., Vasquez, D., Moffatt, K., Waple, K., & Hope, D. (2020). Anxiety Sensitivity and Adolescent Sports-Related Concussion. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology. acaa086, https://doi.org/10.1093/arclin/acaa086.
Caze II, T.J., Vásquez, D.A., & Burkhart, S.O. (Under review). Sociocultural Health Equity Disparities in Time to Clinic Following Sports-Related Concussion.
Price AM, Knell G, Caze II T, Abt JP, Loveland D, Burkhart SO. (2021) Exploring vestibular/ocular and cognitive dysfunction as prognostic factors for protracted recovery in sports-related concussion patients aged 8-12 years. Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine.
Knell G, Caze II T.J, Burkhart S.O. (2021) Evaluation of the vestibular/ocular motor screening (VOMS) as a prediction and diagnostic tool for protracted recovery following pediatric sports-related concussion British Journal of Sports Medicine Open Access