DAVID R. MCDUFF, MD - Clinical Advisor

David R. McDuff, M.D. is the long-time sports psychiatrist and mental preparation trainer for the Baltimore Orioles (1996-present) and Baltimore Ravens (1996-2013) and more recently the Performance Medicine Physician for the Indianapolis Colts (2015-2018).  He is also the author of the 2012 book “Sports Psychiatry: Strategies for Life Balance & Peak Performance”.  For his work with professional and college teams he uses an integrated, on-site-model providing players, coaches, and other staff with specialized services including player selection, team building, life balance, stress control, performance enhancement, mental preparation, energy recovery, injury rehabilitation, pain management, sleep medicine, substance prevention, and mental disorders treatment.

In addition to his work at the professional level, Dr. McDuff has worked extensively with Olympic, Professional, Division I, II, & III University/College, elite club and high school athletes and teams. At the Olympic/Professional Level he has worked with golf, tennis, football, baseball, soccer, rugby, windsurfing, and pentathlon. At the college level he has worked at the Universities of Maryland at College Park and Baltimore County, Johns Hopkins, Loyola, Towson, Stevenson, McDaniel, & Coppin.

RENZ JUANEZA, MD - Medical Advisor

Dr. Renz Juaneza is a double board-certified adult and geriatric psychiatrist in Baltimore, MD. He treats patients for a variety of mental health issues including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, psychosis, ADHD, OCD, autism, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Dr. Juaneza completed his medical residency and fellowship training at Yale University School of Medicine and is originally from Toronto, ON, Canada. He was a multi-sport varsity athlete in high school and continues to play competitive softball and true to his Canadian roots, takes any opportunity he can to play ice hockey. He is a Level I certified coach in basketball and softball with the National Coaching Certification Program (Canada). He is also broadening his knowledge base with topics related to optimizing athletic and academic performance such as keto-based diets.

MICHAEL YONAS, DRPH - Public Health Advisor

Dr. Michael Yonas, in his work and research, utilizes traditional and non-traditional approaches to understand social determinants of health and address factors influencing community violence, chronic disease and persistent disparities impacting the well-being of children, youth and families. He is passionate and dedicated to working with and learning from community youth and families. His most recent efforts have focused on examining the influence of stress on health and strategies for promoting community and school safety. He is influenced by years of community-based practice, service and research, focusing primarily on the role of neighborhood and systems-level factors impacting disparities in health. Dr. Yonas has specialized training and experience using the arts to engage youth and communities in research and in the application of principles of community- based participatory research. Prior to the Foundation, he served as director of Research, Evaluation and Engagement at the Allegheny County Department of Human Services and was on faculty at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from Dickinson College, his Master and Doctoral Degrees of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

MICHAEL CANADY, Executive M.B.A - Business Strategy Advisor

Michael Canady is currently Vice President, Global Operations / Client Services for Discover Global Network. In this role, Mr. Canady has responsibility for leading DGN’s client and partner support efforts globally as well as providing operational support for the company’s commercial payments initiatives.

Prior to his current role, Mr. Canady led client engagement efforts for the Strategic Merchant Relations team, comprised of Discover's largest and most strategic merchant clients. Mr. Canady was also previously VP, Acquirer Relations - Americas with responsibility for acquiring and acceptance priorities in the US, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Mr. Canady holds a BA from Morgan State University and an Executive MBA from Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management.

RICARDO RUSH JR. - Sports/Athlete Advisor

Rush arrived at NJIT following a two-year stint as an Assistant Coach at Salt Lake City Community College, where he helped lead the Bruins to back-to-back NJCAA Division I Tournament appearances. At SLCC, Rush used his East Coast ties to help recruit, while also working to develop players and in 2020-21 he ran the offense, which ranked among the top-10 in scoring in the NJCAA Division I. During his two seasons at SLCC, Rush helped send 14 of his student-athletes to Division I programs.

Prior to his time at SLCC, Rush coached and helped run the day-to-day operations for the DC Blue Devils AAU program, which was based in the Washington, DC, area. Rush coached countless Division I and professional players with the Blue Devils including former Number 1 NBA Draft pick Markelle Fultz, Nate Darling (Charlotte Hornets) and current NBA G-Leaguer Jeff Dowtin.

Rush has worked at almost every level of basketball. After serving four years as a manager at the University of Maryland under Hall of Famer Gary Williams and current coach Mark Turgeon, he went on to work for the Orlando Magic as a basketball operations assistant for 2 seasons. Rush also worked at the scholastic level as a varsity basketball assistant coach at Charles Herbert Flowers HS in Maryland.

The Mitchelville, MD, native graduated from Maryland with a with Bachelor's Degree in Sociology.

ABBY KRONE - Family Wellness Advisor

Abby has spent several years as a Wellness Coach and Treatment Specialist in the mental health field. She currently works with clients to manage chronic diseases and to support clients with identifying, implementing, and supporting healthier lifestyles. Abby received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Kansas and her Masters in Health Care Administration at Park University. Abby holds a certification in Health and Life Coaching from the Health Coach Institute, as well as a certification in Nutrition, Chronic disease and Health Promotion from Park University.

KATIE UMBERGER - Fitness Advisor

Katie is a certified personal trainer through the National Academy of Sports Medicine as well as a Nationally registered EMT and Army Medic in the National Guard. Katie grew up playing sports from age five through college. Fitness has always been a passion whether in the weight room, on the field or elsewhere. After becoming a mom in 2016, fitness became a stepping stone to both mental health and physical fitness. Katie sees fitness as not only a way to teach and improve body mechanics but also to encourage and foster a positive mindset clients can live by. Our bodies are machines and building confidence through strength, speed and mechanics translates to many other aspects of life. When parents and youth alike allow their bodies to move freely and intentionally we can create lasting change for a healthier life.

Certifications:

NASM-CPT, NASM-SFS, NASM-CES, NASM-MT, TRX-GFI, PTAG-ESM, C-KBF, EMT-B