Spartan Profile: Kavin Tsang

Kavin Tsang, the most recent addition to the Kinesiology faculty, serves the department as director of undergraduate athletic training education, advisor to multiple graduate students, and a promising young researcher.  Dr. Tsang’s primary research interests include the physiology of cryotherapeutics, compression and elevation in relation to reduced effusion following acute injury.  Kavin’s scholarly work has frequently been presented at the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Annual Meetings and published in the Journal of Athletic Training.

 Study of the effects of induced effusion of the ankle on neuromuscular performance, his dissertation topic at The Pennsylvania State University, provides a unique contribution to the literature as most previous work has focused on the process of swelling formation at the knee.  Initial findings suggest marked differences in the site of swelling appearance (interstitial versus joint) and some similar performance limitations (problems with postural control and muscular activity).  These findings may have implications for various treatment modalities.  Like most experts in sports medicine, Dr. Tsang is quick to differentiate between the healing effects of initial swelling and the performance limitations associated with secondary swelling.             

As director of undergraduate athletic training, Dr. Tsang teaches the majority of undergraduate courses in athletic training while leading an effort to secure programmatic accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education by the 2004 deadline.  Program accreditation affects undergraduates specializing in athletic training in significant ways.  As of 2004, applicants for the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) certification must come from an accredited undergraduate curriculum in athletic training. 

The accreditation standards establish academic and clinical competencies for students in the curriculum.  These standards require that classroom and clinical experiences be integrated in a sequenced learning environment.  The guidelines for implementing these standards reflect the need for students to be prepared for their clinical experiences by formal classroom instruction.  The standards also establish guidelines for effective learning environments for the clinical experiences.  Kavin summarizes this process as 1) teach your students the 900 plus necessary competencies; 2) observe them do it; 3) give them feedback and; 4) formalize and document this process.  Though Kavin is leading this effort, he is very appreciative of the athletic training staff (Jeff Monroe, Sally Nogle and Tom Mackowiak) implementing this plan in the field.  Kavin is confident that the program is moving in the right direction and will become accredited.  Friends of the department interested in more information on the happenings within the program are invited to contact Kavin at 517.353.2010 or e-mail at ktsang@msu.edu.