Staff Directory
- Title:
- Senior Associate Athletic Director, Sports Medicine and Performance
ADMINISTRATOR–Cross Country, Track & Field
- Email:
- Phone:
- 847-942-4291
Jennifer Brown joined the University of Pittsburgh athletic department in 2018 and serves as the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Sports Medicine and Performance. In this role, Brown advocates for the health and well-being of all Pitt Panther student-athletes, as well as serving as the Athletics Health Care Administrator. She is the sport administrator for the Pitt women’s lacrosse team.
Brown oversees the Sports Medicine, Sports Nutrition and Strength & Conditioning departments and is the on-site coordinator of mental health services for all 19 of the University of Pittsburgh’s sports. She serves as liaison to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the Western Psychiatric Institute, and the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Program. Under Brown’s guidance, the Pitt Sports Medicine Team has grown to include nineteen full-time athletic trainers, three seasonal athletic trainers, two dual-credentialed physical therapists and two clinical counselors. Together with our team physicians, Brown played a key role in navigating Pitt Athletics safely through the Covid-19 pandemic, working closely with the University of Pittsburgh, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the NCAA to develop appropriate policies and procedures for the Pitt community. She also is the co-chair of the planning committee for the annual ACC Health & Safety Summit.
In her first three years at the University of Pittsburgh, as Director of Sports Medicine, Brown provided direct clinical athletic training services for the Panther men’s basketball program.
Brown came to Pitt after spending three years as the head athletic trainer at Eastern Michigan University where she held the role of Athletics Health Care Administrator and was responsible for the daily sports medicine operation of the Eagles' twenty-one sports. She managed the relationship with University of Michigan Health System physicians, supervised four assistant athletic trainers, numerous graduate and student athletic trainers, a mental health counselor, a dietician and held primary healthcare responsibilities and oversight of their football team. During her time in Ypsilanti, Brown's accomplishments included substantive improvements to the baseline testing and concussion management protocol, implementation of a mental health screening tool and development of the mental health treatment program, transitioning to EMU's first electronic medical records system and a complete re-design of the department's secondary insurance business model.
Prior to EMU, Brown spent eleven years at Northwestern University where she most recently served as the associate athletic trainer. At Northwestern, she worked directly with the Wildcats' football team. While in Evanston, Brown was a member of the University's Alcohol and Other Drug Collaborative Team and Biennial Review Committee as well as being a key stakeholder in the AOD policy revision.
Previously, Brown has served as an athletic trainer at Northern Illinois University (2003-04), University of Nebraska at Omaha (2001-03) and University of Colorado (2000-01). Brown graduated from Northwestern in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in human development and psychological services before going on to earn her master's degree in fitness and wellness management from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2003.
She is a NATABOC Certified Athletic Trainer, Licensed Athletic Trainer in Pennsylvania and an American Heart Association Healthcare Provider. She has been active in professional organizations at the state, district and national levels. Brown has presented at numerous sports medicine conferences, including the 2023 Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers’ Society Annual Convention and the NATA Podcast.
A native of Machesney Park, IL, Brown now resides in Pittsburgh’s North Hills.
Beyond the Bio
Favorite place on the University of Pittsburgh campus?
Heinz Chapel
What is one thing everyone should do when they visit the city of Pittsburgh?
Have a great meal in the city and ride the incline!
Favorite sports moment at Pitt?
Pitt Men’s Basketball beating Duke at home in 2020.
What do you love most about the University of Pittsburgh?
The staff and colleagues that I get to work with everyday!
If you could have dinner with any three people who would it be and why?
Jesus Christ, Michael Jordan, and Mike Ditka because I grew up outside of Chicago.
Favorite quote?
“Life is not measured by the breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away”
