Dr. Robb S. Rehberg
PhD, ATC, CSCS, NREMT

PARTNER

Dr. Robb Rehberg currently serves as Professor and Coordinator of Clinical Education for the Athletic Training and Sports Medicine Program at William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ.  He is a founder/owner of The Rehberg Konin Group, and is also the founder, President and CEO of Sport Safety International. Dr. Rehberg also serves as the subject matter expert for first aid and emergency preparedness for the National Safety Council, and is a medical consultant to the National Football League.

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Academic Background

Dr. Rehberg earned his bachelor’s degree in Athletic Training, with a minor in Health Science from West Chester University of Pennsylvania (1991), a Master of Sport Science degree with an emphasis in Sport Management from the United States Sports Academy (1999), and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Health Science with a concentration in international health research and education from Touro University International (2003).

Teaching Background

Since September 2004, Dr. Rehberg has served as a professor and Coordinator of Athletic Training Clinical Education in the Department of Kinesiology at William Paterson University. During the 2006-2007 academic year, Dr. Rehberg served as Director of the CAATE-accredited Athletic Training Education Program. Dr. Rehberg was awarded tenure in September 2009. His primary teaching areas include prevention and care of athletic injuries, general medical conditions in athletic training, organization and administration of athletic training, and emergency care.

Dr. Rehberg has served as a clinical instructor of athletic training for over 20 years, has held appointments as a clinical instructor at Montclair State, William Paterson, and Seton Hall Universities. Additionally, Dr. Rehberg has served as an adjunct instructor at Montclair State University, as a clinical instructor and Clinical Advisory Board member for the School of Graduate Medical Education at Seton Hall University, and as an adjunct instructor at the Bergen County Emergency Medical Services Institute.  Dr. Rehberg also served as an adjunct professor for the graduate athletic training program at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences from 2014-2016, where he created the program’s graduate course on concussion in sport.

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A frequent speaker at local, regional, and national conferences, Dr. Rehberg has presented as an invited guest speaker on various topics related to athletic training sports medicine and emergency care at meetings such as the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Annual Meeting and Clinical Symposium, the Eastern Athletic Trainers’ Association Annual Meeting, the National Safety Council Annual Congress and Exposition, and state athletic training meetings in New Jersey and West Virginia, to name a few.

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Dr. Rehberg has been involved in teaching first aid, emergency care, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for over 20 years. He currently serves as the subject matter expert for the National Safety Council’s emergency care training programs and instructor training curricula. Dr. Rehberg also served on the American Heart Association’s Guidelines 2000 First Aid Task Force, which developed the first-ever international guidelines for first aid.

Clinical Background – Athletic Training and Sports Medicine

Dr. Rehberg previously served as an athletic trainer at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, New Jersey, where he worked as part of a multi-disciplinary team in the Atlantic Neuroscience Institute that created the Center for Concussion Care and Physical Rehabilitation, which was New Jersey’s largest hospital-based concussion program at the time.  He also worked in the Emergency Department as part of Atlantic Health System’s Sports Health Initiative. He was one of the first athletic trainers in the state, and among very few in the country to work in these settings. Dr. Rehberg also assists the William Paterson University athletic training staff in covering the University’s football program, and currently works for the National Football League as the coordinator of the Athletic Trainer Spotter program, and is the lead AT spotter for New York Jets home games.

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Dr. Rehberg has served as a high school athletic trainer at Westwood Regional Junior/Senior High School in Westwood, New Jersey, from 1991 to 2004. During that time, he provided health care for 39 interscholastic sports in grades seven through 12. During his tenure at Westwood, he also oversaw strength and conditioning programs, and served an assistant to the Director of Athletics, and played an active role in the daily operations of the athletic department.

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Dr. Rehberg also served as Chief Athletic Trainer in the Department of Sports Medicine at the prestigious Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange, New Jersey, where his responsibilities included overseeing the Sports Training and Rehabilitation (STAR) fitness program, supervising staff athletic trainers and personal trainers, and assisting with marketing of the STAR program, and also served as Course Director for sports medicine educational programs. Additional responsibilities included coordinating medical services for sporting events, instructing patients on post-rehabilitative programs, designing strength and conditioning programs for athletes and non-athletes, assisting physicians with physical examinations. Prior to his tenure at Kessler, Dr. Rehberg’s clinical experience also included serving as a Sports Medicine Outreach Coordinator at HealthSouth Rehabilitation Center in Emerson, NJ, and as a Staff Athletic Trainer and Director of Educational Services at MARC Physical Therapy/Sports Medicine in Woodcliff Lake, NJ.

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In 1996, Dr. Rehberg was selected as a member of the track & field (athletics) medical staff for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games held in Atlanta, Georgia, where he provided care for elite athletes from all over the world. Dr. Rehberg has also volunteered his time by serving as a member of the medical staff for the New Jersey vs. North East All-Star Football Classic, Major League Baseball’s Restoring Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) regional tournaments, and was recently asked to serve as the athletic trainer for Special Olympics New Jersey’s national basketball team. He also serves as a Tee-ball coach in his local community.
 

Consulting Background

Dr. Rehberg has served as a consultant to the legal and insurance industries since 2006.  In 2009, he co-founded the Rehberg Konin Group, a consulting firm specializing in consulting in sports medicine, sport safety and risk management. Dr. Rehberg served as an expert consultant for Robson Forensic, Inc, and has served as a consultant for several publishing houses, including Jones and Bartlett Publishers (emergency care and sports medicine), McGraw Hill (emergency care), and SLACK, Inc. (sports medicine).

Scholarship

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Dr. Rehberg has a distinguished scholarly background, including over a dozen refereed articles in scholarly journals, and over 40 articles in other publications. He is the primary author and editor of Sports Emergency Care: A Team Approach, the first textbook ever written on the topic of management of medical emergencies in sports, which is now in its third edition.  He also co-authored an instructor’s manual for the text, and currently has three chapters on emergency care related topics currently in press. He has also served as an editorial reviewer and contributor to the National Safety Council’s emergency care training programs since 1992. In 2012, Dr. Rehberg and his wife, Dr. Joelle Rehberg, also authored a textbook entitled Cram Sessions in General Medicine: A Handbook for Students and Clinicians. Most recently, Dr. Rehberg has also authored and produced over a dozen online education programs that have educated over one million athletes, parents, coaches, physicians, and health care providers about concussion and other topics related to sport safety.

Dr. Rehberg has presented at over 50 at regional, national and international conferences and symposia on topics related to athletic training, sports medicine, and emergency care. Dr. Rehberg’s grant writing activity has led to grant awards totaling over $100,000 in grant funding.

Leadership and Service Activities

Dr. Rehberg has a long and distinguished history in serving his profession on the state and national level. He a former president of the Athletic Trainers’ Society of New Jersey, and has served on the Society’s Executive Council for over seven years. During his tenure as president, he played an instrumental role in the passage of legislation that revised the New Jersey Athletic Training Licensure Act and now permits licensed athletic trainers to work in any practice setting. Dr. Rehberg currently serves on the Society’s Governmental Affairs Committee.

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On the regional and national levels, Dr. Rehberg has had a tremendous impact on the profession of athletic training. He currently serves as treasurer of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association District 2.  He previously served on the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Foundation Board of Directors, as treasurer of the Eastern Athletic Trainers’ Association, and is a former member of the Brain Injury Alliance of New Jersey Board of Trustees. He has served the NATA in several other capacities as well, including appointments to the Inter-Association Task Force for the Appropriate Care of the Spine Injured Athlete, Appropriate Medical Coverage of Secondary School Aged Athletes Task Force, as a member of the NATA Position Statement on Appropriate Management of the Spine-Injured Athlete writing group, as a member of the Honors and Awards – Hall Of Fame Sub-Committee, and as the NATA’s liaison to the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians. He has also been active in lobbying the New Jersey legislature on legislation regarding youth sports safety and concussions, as well as the United States Congress in support of HR1137, otherwise known as the Athletic Trainer’s Equal Access to Medicare Act, and has met with legislators in Washington, D.C. to urge their support.

In January 2010, New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine appointed Dr. Rehberg to the New Jersey Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, and has since been reappointed by both Republican and Democratic Governors. He currently serves as Chair of the council.

Dr. Rehberg’s passion is working to help make youth sports safer, and his particular interest is youth football. He has been involved in football for over 40 years as a player, coach, and athletic trainer, and frequently works with youth football programs on sport safety initiatives, including concussion prevention and awareness of prevention of other conditions such as heat illness and sudden cardiac death.

Media Interviews

Dr. Rehberg has served as a popular resource for media outlets being recognized as an expert in sharing information with the general public pertaining to sports injuries.  His quotes and sound bites have appeared in the The Bergen Record, The Herald of North Jersey, Training & Conditioning Magazine, Every Second Counts Magazine, The NATA News, Safety and Health Magazine.  Dr. Rehberg has also been interviewed on WWOR-TV and WCBS-AM News Radio in New York, New Jersey 101.5, and WWHD Radio.

Honors and Awards

Dr. Rehberg’s professional accomplishments have been recognized through several honors and awards. Dr. Rehberg is an inductee of the Athletic Trainers’ Society of New Jersey Hall of Fame. In August 2010, he received the Ordo Honoris Award and Medal from the National Fraternity of Kappa Delta Rho, in recognition of his professional accomplishments and volunteer service. In June 2010, he received the Athletic Trainer Service Award from the National Athletic Trainers’ Association. In 2008, he was inducted into the New Jersey State Coaches Association Hall of Fame, only the 10th athletic trainer to receive such recognition at the time. He is also the recipient of the Vito D. Recine Distinguished Service Award from the Athletic Trainers’ Society of New Jersey, and was presented with a Heroism Award from Montclair State University for his role in the response to the September 11th attacks in New York. He has also been honored by Montclair State for his service, having received the Chief’s Recognition Award, Vice President’s Red Ribbon Award, and the Chief’s Service Award from the University Police Department. In 2006, Dr. Rehberg was honored by West Chester University, his alma mater, as a Legacy of Leadership Inductee. He has also received several other recognition awards and certificates during his accomplished career. In June, 2010, Dr. Rehberg will be presented with the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Athletic Trainer Service Award, in recognition for his service to the profession. Most recently, Dr. Rehberg was the recipient of the NATA’s William T. Griffin Award for Excellence in Legislative Advocacy (2019), and the Eastern Athletic Trainers' Associations's Cramer Award for Excellence in Leadership (2020).