World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) recently announced the appointment of Dr. Joseph Maroon as the Medical Director for the WWE Talent Wellness Program. Dr. Maroon is a leading neurosurgeon who along with his colleague neuropsychologist Mark Lovell, PhD. have created the most advanced and sophisticated post-concussion assessment program [ImPACT (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing)].

The WWE’s acknowledgement and recognition of the significance of concussions in professional wrestling should be commended. Repeated concussions have been shown to lead to a form of brain damage known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). Post-mortem examinations of deceased wrestler Chris Benoit by the Sports Legacy Institute confirmed CTE in all regions of Benoit’s brain.

Unfortunately, sports writers continue to promote steroid hysteria in sport by demonizing physicians who work with athletes/entertainers in professional sports where anabolic steroid use is prevalent. Mark Madden, sports correspondent with the Beaver County Times, characterized the news of Dr. Joseph Maroon’s role with the WWE as an adviser who may help cover up steroid use in the WWE.

Steelers neurological surgeon Dr. Joseph Maroon has been appointed the medical director of World Wrestling Entertainment’s wellness program. Given that wrestling has traditionally been awash with all manner of drug use, especially steroids, should that association bother the Steelers? Is Maroon’s job at WWE detecting steroid use, or masking steroid use? 

Steroid hysteria has seriously hurt journalism when newspapers publish such implications against such a respected and accomplished neurosurgeon at researcher at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Joseph C. Maroon, M.D., a neurosurgeon at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and professor and vice chairman of the department of neurological surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, is regarded as a premiere specialist in the surgical treatment of injuries and diseases of the brain and spine, particularly with microscopic and minimally invasive procedures. His research into brain tumors, concussions and diseases of the spine have led to many innovative techniques for diagnosing and treating these disorders. Consistently listed in America’s Best Doctors, Dr. Maroon’s patients travel from all over the world to seek his care.

Team neurosurgeon for the Pittsburgh Steelers since 1981, Dr. Maroon has successfully performed surgery on numerous professional football players and other elite athletes with potentially career-ending neck and spine injuries, safely returning them all to their high level of athletic performance. He was heavily involved in the development of the world’s first computerized sports concussion evaluation system, ImPACT™ (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing), a tool used by team doctors and athletic trainers to help determine the severity of a concussion and when it is safe for an athlete to return to play following injury. Dr. Maroon and colleagues began researching and developing neurocognitive testing methods with the Steelers during the late 1980s. These methods are now widely used throughout professional, collegiate and high school sports and are re-defining the standard of care for managing sports-related concussions.

Mark Madden an example of sports journalists who continue to promote an agenda of steroid hysteria. The irony is that the WWE’s Vince McMahon is actually made substantive moves to deal with health problems in pro wrestling but journalists are not only failing to support positive efforts but instead trying to harm such efforts through messages of steroid hysteria.