RISE History

The Research Institute of Sport & Exercise (RISE) Institute is the overarching body and is comprised of the science and medical board of the Rugby Research and Injury Prevention Group, Inc. (RRIPG), a non-for-profit organization dedicated “to improve American rugby players’ welfare and safety through innovative evidence-based research.” RRIPG was established in 2010 through the generosity and guidance of the National Competitive Region 3 (NCR3), formerly known as the Northeast Rugby Football Union (NRU). The RISE Institute with its highly skilled medical board, affiliated and associate clinical scientists; and their institutional collaborations, had the ambitious vision to expand to evaluate multiple sports, for sports injury prevention. They will begin to apply its success on US rugby-7s, which has taken them to the International Olympic Committee, to other sports. The founder of the organization was Dr. Victor Lopez Jr. who was guided by Answorth A. Allen, MD.  This was aided by several undergraduates at the time, Mr. Christopher M Black, MPH, Mr. Christian Victoria, BS, MPH (2018); Mr. Eric F. Soto, BS, ATC, FMS; Mr. Mario Ortega, BS, (RN 2018); Mr. Nikolas Baret; and Dr. Douglas E. James, MD.

Due to Victor’s, history of playing many sports, swimming, Judo (HS East Coast Champions), including rugby since high school, he attended St. Francis Preparatory High School, and then with the Forest Hills RFC, eventually ending up with the NYC Village Lions RFC (one of the largest rugby teams in the NYC area during that time), it was easy to see his direction. While attending New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, Victor rotated as a Research Intern in the Shoulder and Sports Medicine Service at the Hospital for Special Surgery over 2003, under Answorth A. Allen, MD (who covered international cricket, American baseball and basketball, and Olympic basketball) at Hospital for Special Surgery and the experience, strengthened his desire to understand the mechanism of sporting injuries.  This experience was fruitful, jointly creating many publications with their time.  He was fortunate to go overseas to Norway and interned under Dr. Lars Engebretsen (the International Olympic Committee, former scientific chair and now member of the Scientific Committee) at Ulleval Hospital, in Oslo, and the Oslo Sports Trauma Center (OSTRC), an IOC Research Centres for Prevention of Injury and Protection of Athlete Health (Centers of Excellence), where they were beginning to evolve the area of Sports Injury Prevention (https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Sports-Medicine-Science-Prevention/dp/1405162449).  While gaining international and domestic understandings of sports, in Oslo and New York City, it was easy upon return, to see the want to understand the sport of U.S. rugby.

The RRIPG was then sponsored by Empire Geographic Union (GU) Rugby Football Union (RFU) and New England GU RFU, with their generosity to continue conducting our studies in the region and across the US with endorsement by USA Sevens LLC, and USA Rugby to attend their events and collect data. While collecting data at the 2010 tournaments, Mr. Black and Dr. Lopez met at the New Jersey 7s, began their collaboration on ideas and methodologies.  Christopher’s rugby playing for Rutgers Rugby, Princeton Athletic Club (PAC) Rugby and now Bayonne Bombers Rugby, reflects his enthusiasm of rugby.  The groups love of rugby notes the dedication of the group’s purpose.   Allen as our Orthopedic Advisor has lent his senior guidance and vast insight to multiple sports and was invaluable to understand the intricacies of sports medicine research and supported our decision to undergo our first study and methodology.  Our first publication together yielded one of the first manuscripts in the world on the sporting injuries in the emerging sport of Rugby Sevens: “Profile of an American Amateur Rugby Unon Sevens Series,” published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine.  Since then, Mr. Sean Horan a strong domestic voice of rugby in America joined our ranks and guided us our Director of Rugby (2010-2016).  He was a former player and Rugby Seven-a-side Head Coach for Old Blue RFC and the former Empire GU/RFU Executive Director for Rugby Sevens in the Northeast United States.  He has been a pinnacle in driving our cause and helping spread the word to the players and administrators.  Then Dr. Arun T. Gupta (2012) joined us while an Interventional Spine Fellow at Hospital for Special Surgery, and now anchors our efforts in the north as our Northern, Medical Advisor, from the University of Calgary.  Dr. Richard Ma then joined us while the Sports Medicine Clinical Fellow at Hospital for Special Surgery, and now is our Mid-West, Co-Director, from the University of Missouri, Missouri Orthopaedic Institute and the Thompson Laboratory for regenerative Orthopedics.  Dr. Ma helped direct us into the area of translational research, to reach the public with our mission.  Dr. James L. Chen, the current UCSF Sports Medicine Fellowship Director then joined us, as our West Coast, Co-Director, as a fellow, and has helped direct us with regards to the large Northwest rugby playing population.  Mr. Michael Crafton, Esq, as chair of the RRIPG - Steering and Advisory Board (SAB), with his experience during his tenure as President of the Empire GU RFU, and now USA Rugby Congress member, has guided the RRIPG on advancement and progress in the evolving global expansion of rugby and its emergence as an Olympic Sport.  He is a current player for the Bayonne Bombers Rugby Club.  During this period, we were fortunate to have Mr. William (Bill) Middleton’s counsel and sound advice over these many years.

Our advances were noticed, and we began collaborating domestically with the global expert and current, World Rugby - Independent Concussion Expert, Dr Robert C. Cantu of Emerson Hospital, Emerson, MA.  Internationally, with Auckland University of Technology, and their Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand (AUT/SPRINZ) with current relationships with World Rugby (formally the International Rugby Board).  This includes the foremost internationally acknowledged sports biomechanist and winner of the Geoffrey Dyson Award, Professor Patria A. Hume of Auckland University, and their Sports Performance Research Institute of New Zealand (AUT/SPRINZ), and Leader of the Rugby Codes Interdisciplinary Research Group (RCRG).

With the successes previously noted, done by RRIPG, Dr. Lopez decided to invest his injury knowledge into new sports, creating the Research Institute of Sport & Exercise. With its multidisciplinary team, the RISE Institute’s goal is to continue to conduct high quality research on injuries in sports that are currently underrepresented in the research, in order to develop strategies to improve athlete welfare and promote the growth of these sports safely in the U.S. With his expansion and collaboration into other sports and institutions, the team plans on gaining and disseminating sports injury prevention knowledge from the Northeast region to ripple out across the continental U.S. as they have successfully done in other sports.