Dr. Micky Collins ’92

Michael “Micky” Collins, Ph.D., is an internationally renowned expert in sports-related concussion–and a former standout baseball player for the Southern Maine Huskies, helping his team reach the NCAA Baseball College World Series in 1989. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and biology from USM and earned his master’s and doctoral degrees at Michigan State University.

A leading clinician and researcher, Micky serves as director and founding member of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s (UMPC) Sports Medicine Concussion Program. Established in 2000, the UMPC program is the first and largest research and clinical program focused on the diagnosis, evaluation, and management of sport-related mild traumatic brain injury in athletes of all levels.

Micky has been instrumental in the development of concussion management programs at the youth sports level nationwide and is the co-author of the Centers for Disease Control’s “Concussion Tool Kit for Physicians.” He also advises numerous athletic organizations, including USA Rugby, US Lacrosse, and Cirque de Soleil, as well as consulting with national and international sports organizations and team.

In 2012 and again in 2016, he helped NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. recover from severe concussions and return to racing. Micky appeared with Dale Earnhardt Jr. onstage at USM’s Hannaford Hall in September 2019 for a conversation about Dale’s concussion experience. In his book, Racing to the Finish, Dale describes Micky as the doctor who “gave me my life back twice.”