People & Board

The Fight Medicine Research Institute brings together expertise in ringside medicine, emergency care, sports medicine, coaching, fighter experience, officiating, regulation and data security. Its seven-member Research Governance Board oversees research strategy, policy and institutional accountability. John Parris serves as Institute Director. Casey C. Sears is Founder. Paul W. Kirby, MD, is Board Chair.

Chair, Director and Founder

Three different responsibilities, held by three people.

  • Board Chair

    Paul W. Kirby, MD

    Chairs the Research Governance Board. Elected at the Board meeting of 8 November 2026, effective 9 November 2026.

  • Institute Director

    John Parris

    Manages day-to-day administration, budgets, records and the policy register, and carries out the Board’s decisions.

  • Founder

    Casey C. Sears

    Represents the founding purpose, advises on research priorities and contributes combat-sports and ringside expertise.

How the Board governs

The Research Governance Board has seven voting members. It approves research strategy, budgets, policies, research appointments and project authorization, and reviews safety, complaints and publication performance. At least four members must be independent. A quorum is four eligible members, including at least three independent members. The Institute Director may not chair the Board.

Five of the voting members are recorded as independent: Paul W. Kirby, MD; Casey C. Sears; Jay Deas; Lou Lombardy; and James B. “Jimmy” Robinson, MD.

Walter Bailey Price II, BA, NRP, CCP, serves the Board as a non-voting advisory member, appointed at the Board meeting of 8 November 2026, effective 9 November 2026, and is recorded as independent. Under the charter an advisory title does not confer voting authority. The quorum and the required number of independent members are counted among the voting members.

Under the charter an independent member is not an employee or controlling owner of the Fight Medicine Research Institute, an immediate family member of executive management, or a person whose material financial relationship with a study sponsor compromises independent judgment. Every member discloses outside interests under the conflicts and funding policy. A member with a conflict in a matter is recused from it and does not count toward the quorum for it. Minutes record disclosures and recusals.

Founder status carries no override of Board votes, scientific review or external ethics review. A Board seat or advisory role does not by itself confer authorship, clinical authority, access to participants or permission to recruit fighters. A person’s outside employer is not a partner of the Fight Medicine Research Institute because of that person’s service.

Governance & Ethics guide · Read the Governance Charter · Read the Operating Charter · Disclosed interests

Research Governance Board

  1. Paul W. Kirby, MD

    • Board Chair
    • Clinical Research Adviser — Emergency and Prehospital Care

    Paul W. Kirby, MD, is an assistant professor and member of the prehospital section of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His work focuses on prehospital education, cardiac arrest care, system-specific guidelines, quality improvement, and wilderness medicine. He is committed to strengthening prehospital care in Birmingham and surrounding communities.

    Responsibility
    Advise on acute head-trauma assessment, emergency protocols, clinically relevant outcomes, and clinical education within the agreed review scope.
    Board
    Chair. Independent member.
    Expertise
    Emergency medicine; Prehospital education; Cardiac arrest care; Clinical guidelines and quality improvement

  2. John Parris

    • Institute Director
    • Board member

    John Parris is the Executive Director of the Alabama Athletic Commission (AAC) and President of Parris Enterprises, Inc. A U.S. Army veteran who served as an infantryman and Bradley Fighting Vehicle gunner, Parris earned his degree in marketing from the University of South Alabama and brought over 20 years of operational and business experience to the commission upon his appointment in 2022. Based in Birmingham, he oversees state licensing, safety protocols, and regulatory compliance for professional boxing, MMA, and unarmed combat throughout Alabama.

    Responsibility
    Administration, research operations, budgets, contracts, institutional records, and implementation of Board decisions.
    Board
    Member.
    Expertise
    Regulatory administration; Business operations; Licensing and compliance

  3. Casey C. Sears

    • Founder
    • Ringside Assessment Research Lead
    • Board member

    Casey C. Sears is a veteran combat sports regulator, ringside clinician, and member of the Alabama Boxing Hall of Fame. Having served as an Alabama State Athletic Commissioner for over 17 years, he has held leadership roles as Commission Chair, Vice Chair, and Medical Committee Chair, leading medical ringside teams for high-profile events, including heavyweight world championships.

    A former boxer, licensed referee, and judge, Casey combines deep practical fight experience with over 15 years of operational clinical practice as a National Registry Paramedic and Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine (FAWM). He is the author of 4 books on wilderness and extreme medicine.

    Responsibility
    Coordinate the ringside assessment research workplan, protocol development, evidence review, and fighter-safety research operations.
    Board
    Independent member.
    Expertise
    Combat-sports regulation; Ringside clinical operations; Emergency care; Refereeing and judging

  4. Jay Deas

    • Board member
    • Research Adviser — Training and Event Operations

    Jay Deas has been a defining figure in boxing leadership for over 30 years, having staged more than 112 events across Alabama since 1995. An internationally recognized Olympic coach, trainer, and manager, Deas developed former world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder from his first day in the gym in 2005 to an Olympic Bronze medal in Beijing (2008) and the World Heavyweight Championship in 2015. He provides the Board with senior expertise in event operations, athletic governance, and elite sports performance.

    Responsibility
    Advise on fighter consultation, training and event feasibility, participant burden, and operational implementation of research procedures.
    Board
    Independent member.
    Expertise
    Boxing event operations; Coaching and athlete development; Training and management

  5. Lou Lombardy

    • Board member
    • Research Governance and Data Security Adviser

    Lou Lombardy is a Cyber Security expert with over 25 years of experience and a Master’s Degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Cyber Security Management. He is also a former boxer and a former Chief Inspector with the State of Alabama.

    Responsibility
    Review data-governance and security plans, advise on access and incident controls, and coordinate integrity-report intake when unconflicted.
    Board
    Independent member.
    Expertise
    Cybersecurity; Data protection; Boxing experience; Inspection experience

  6. James B. “Jimmy” Robinson, MD

    • Board member
    • Senior Clinical Research Adviser — Sports Medicine

    Dr. James B. “Jimmy” Robinson, MD, is the retired Head Team Physician for University of Alabama Athletics and Endowed Chair of Sports Medicine Emeritus at the UA College of Community Health Sciences (CCHS). A graduate of the LSU School of Medicine (1985) and the Tuscaloosa Family Medicine Residency Program (1988), Dr. Robinson spent more than 30 years caring for Crimson Tide student-athletes, working every Alabama football game home and away from 1996 through the championship eras of the modern era. A pioneer of primary care sports medicine in Alabama, he founded the CCHS Sports Medicine Fellowship, directed the Dr. Bill deShazo Sports Medicine Center at UMC, and served for years as Chair of the AHSAA Medical Advisory Committee. Dr. Robinson retired in 2022 after a career dedicated to athlete safety and clinical education.

    Responsibility
    Advise on athlete health, follow-up outcomes, sports-medicine research design, and clinical education within the agreed review scope.
    Board
    Independent member.
    Expertise
    Sports medicine; Athlete health and safety; Clinical education

  7. Jeff Dodson

    • Board member
    • Fighter Research Adviser — Officiating and Fight Safety

    Jeff Dodson is a veteran professional boxing referee, former professional fighter, and Alabama Boxing Hall of Fame inductee recognized for leadership in combat sports regulation, event integrity, and ring safety. Over an officiating career spanning more than two decades, Dodson has served as a licensed referee, ringside judge, and commission inspector across major venues throughout the Southeast, including serving as an official for four heavyweight world title bouts.

    Responsibility
    Advise on fight-stoppage observations, officiating variables, fighter experience, event safety, and practicable research procedures.
    Board
    Member.
    Expertise
    Professional boxing officiating; Fight stoppage and ring safety; Fighter experience; Event integrity

  8. Walter Bailey Price II, BA, NRP, CCP

    EMS Section Chief, Alabama Fire College; Chief Inspector, Alabama Athletic Commission

    • Advisory Board member (non-voting)
    • Adviser — Clinical Operational Oversight and Pre-Hospital Protocol Integration

    Chief Walter Bailey Price II, BA, NRP, serves as EMS Section Chief at the Alabama Fire College and as a Chief Inspector for the Alabama Athletic Commission. A Nationally Registered Paramedic and seasoned Critical Care Paramedic with more than two decades of high-acuity field, transport, and academic leadership—including twelve years directing the Fire College’s accredited EMS programs—Chief Price bridges advanced pre-hospital medicine with statutory combat sports regulation. Parallel to managing ringside venue compliance and athlete safety operations across Alabama, he provides fight medicine research initiatives with direct operational expertise in acute trauma triage, ringside emergency action planning (EAP), rapid resuscitation pathways, and prospective injury surveillance, ensuring clinical safety protocols translate into actionable, enforceable field standards.

    Responsibility
    Advise on clinical operational oversight and pre-hospital protocol integration, including acute trauma triage, ringside emergency action planning, rapid resuscitation pathways, and prospective injury surveillance.
    Board
    Non-voting advisory member. Independent member.
    Appointed
    Board meeting of 8 November 2026, effective 9 November 2026.
    Expertise
    Prehospital and critical care paramedicine; EMS education and program leadership; Ringside venue compliance; Emergency action planning

Biographies are published as supplied. A person’s outside employer does not endorse the Fight Medicine Research Institute. Journal editorial roles are a separate record, listed under Disclosed interests.