Canisius College head athletic trainer Andy Smith has been appointed to serve a four-year term on the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports. Smith, who graduated from the College in 1989 and also serves as a clinical instructor at Canisius, was nominated for this position by the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. He is one of four athletic trainers from around the country to receive this appointment.

The mission of the Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports (CSMAS) is to provide expertise and leadership to the NCAA in order to promote a healthy and safe environment for the nearly 400,000 student-athletes within the NCAA through research, education, collaboration and policy development. CSMAS committee members are appointed certified athletic trainers (ATCs), team physicians and sports medicine specialists for NCAA member institutions at various levels.

As the head athletic trainer at Canisius, Smith oversees coverage for all 16 Canisius teams, working directly with the cross country and women's lacrosse programs. He also administers and oversees the student-athlete accident insurance and NCAA and Canisius College Drug Testing programs. The western New York native also serves as an adjunct professor in the College's undergraduate athletic training education program. His certifications include BOC Certification, Clinical Instructor Educator and National Safety Council Instructor of CPR, First Aid and AED.

Smith has offered a variety of regional and national presentations on several topics in sports medicine. He has also been involved with the United States Olympic Committee Sports Medicine Team and was a volunteer athletic trainer at the United States Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, N.Y. He worked the 1999 Summer World University Games in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, and helped coordinate athletic training services at the 2004, 2007 and 2010 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship First and Second Rounds in Buffalo. Smith has served in numerous capacities within the New York State Athletic Trainers Association (NYSATA), including treasurer, regional representative, webmaster and president from 2002-04, where he represented nearly 1,300 certified and student athletic trainers statewide. He was honored by the NYSATA with the Thomas J. Sheehan Sr., Award for outstanding service to the profession. He recently served as a member of the NATA's Inter-Association Task Force on "Recommended Guidelines on How to Prepare for and Manage Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) During High School and College Athletic Practices and Competitions," which has been published in numerous journals.