Athletic Commission Medical Advisory Board

The Medical Advisory Board consists of nine members appointed by the Governor. The Board has the power and the duty to prepare and submit to the Athletic Commission for approval, regulations and standards for the physical examination of athletes licensed by the Commission.

The State Athletic Commission Medical Advisory Board has the power and the duty to prepare and submit to the Athletic Commission for approval, regulations and standards for the physical examination of athletes licensed by the Commission. The Board serves in an advisory capacity to the Commission and, as needed, prepares and submits to the Commission for approval such additional regulations and standards that safeguard the physical welfare of professional boxers and wrestlers. Additionally, it may recommend to the Commission qualified physicians for the purpose of conducting physical examinations of professional boxers and wrestlers. The Board develops appropriate medical education programs for the Commission and, in doing so, recommends to the Commission a compilation of publications on the medical aspects of boxing. The Board also advises the Commission on any study that will, in its opinion, promote the safety of boxing and wrestling. medicine.

General Business Law, Art. 41, Section 1013

Hamish A. Kerr, MD
Dr. Hamish Kerr is the head team physician for Siena College, and is the Sports Medicine Fellowship Director for Albany Medical Center and Professor of Medicine at Albany Medical College. He is a sports medicine specialist who serves USA Rugby as Committee Chair of the Medical/Risk Committee, Team Physician for the USA Eagles Men’s National Team. He is a Senior Medical Educator for World Rugby whom he also serves as Tournament Team Physician for the International Sevens Series, including the 2013 (Moscow) & 2018 (San Francisco) Rugby Sevens World Cups, and was an Independent Concussion Consultant at the 2015 & 2019 Rugby World Cups. He travelled to Rio de Janiero as the Match Day Doctor for the 2016 Olympic Rugby tournament.

His training includes undergraduate Physiology/Sports Science, and Medical School at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. He completed Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency at Albany Medical Center and Primary Care Sports Medicine fellowship at Children’s Hospital Boston/Harvard Medical School.

He has published articles on sports injury surveillance, heading in soccer, rugby tackling and concussion prevention. He has a sports medicine practice that encompasses musculoskeletal medicine at Capital Region Orthopaedics and a multidisciplinary sports concussion clinic at Albany Medical Center which includes balance, neuromuscular and neurocognitive assessments.


James M. Noble, MD
Dr. Noble is Associate Professor of Neurology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, in the Department of Neurology, the Taub Institute for Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, and the GH Sergievsky Center at Columbia University. He received his medical degree from Emory University, trained in neurology residency and dementia fellowship at Columbia University Medical Center, and received a Master of Science in epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University through the NIH supported neuroepidemiology training program. His clinical practice focuses on neurodegenerative forms of dementia including Alzheimer disease and related disorders. He leads several research projects including collegiate sports-related concussion, cognitive aging, neurological health literacy, and systemic inflammatory markers as potential novel Alzheimer risk factors. He is board certified in neurology, behavioral neurology and neuropsychiatry, and public health.


James J. Kinderknecht, MD
Dr. Kindernecht is a board-certified family physician with a certificate of added qualification in sports medicine. He is the program director for the Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. He serves as a team physician for the New York Giants and the New York Mets.


David C. Angelillo, DO                                       
Dr. Angelillo is a dual board certified orthopaedic surgeon and a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.  He is an expert in arthroscopic surgery, as well as traumatic injuries including fractures and dislocations.  He also serves as a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine.  Dr. Angelillo completed his fellowship training in orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine at NYU-Hospital for Joint Diseases in New York City.  He currently practices on Long Island and has offices in Patchogue and Manorville.


Ambika Nayar, MD

Dr. Nayar is a native New Yorker and graduated from the NYU School of Medicine where she completed her training in Internal Medicine and Cardiology.  She has remained there since as a faculty member in her position as an Assistant Professor of Medicine.  She practices general cardiology at NYU and is the Director of the Adult Echocardiography Laboratory at Bellevue Hospital where she helps to care for patients with complex cardiac pathologies with her skills in imaging and Interventional Echocardiography.  She served as a consulting physician at the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases from 2004 -2008 and is board certified in Cardiology and Echocardiography.

Anthony G. Curreri, MD
Dr. Curreri is board certified in Ophthalmology. He worked for fifteen years as a professional ringside physician and continues to see professional boxers in his private practice. He is Chairman Emeritus of Cabrini Medical Center.

Laszlo Mechtler, MD, FAAN
Dr. Mechtler is board certified in Neurology, Headache Medicine and Neuroimaging. He is the Director of the Dent Headache Center and Co-Director of the Dent Concussion Center. His training includes institutions such as MD Anderson and the State University New York at Buffalo. He is currently the Medical Director of the DENT Neurologic Institute in Buffalo, NY, Professor of Neurology at the State University of New York at Buffalo and also serves as the President of the American Society of Neuroimaging. He has authored in numerous publications including on the topic of TBI and was the Editor of the 2014 edition of Neurology Clinics. He is the consulting physician for professional and semi-pro sports teams in Western New York to include the NFL Buffalo Bills and NHL Buffalo Sabres. He currently is participating in numerous clinical trials which include neuroimaging research for traumatic brain injury in collaboration with The University of Buffalo.

Charles P. Melone, Jr., MD
Dr. Melone specializes in sports injuries to the hand & wrist, arthritis of the hand & wrist, wrist fractures, fracture-dislocations, scleroderma, microsurgery and carpal tunnel syndrome.  Over the past 40 years in practice, Dr. Melone has gained a reputation as one of the most knowledgeable hand surgeons in the United States. He is Director of the Division of Hand Surgery at Mount Sinai Beth Israel and Professor of Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.  He also received the Distinguished Service Citation from New York University Medical School in 1999.

Rosanna C. Sabini, DO
Dr. Sabini is board certified in Brain Injury Medicine and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.  She received her medical degree from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine and went on to complete her residency at Mount Sinai Medical Center and her fellowship in Traumatic Brain Injury at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dr. Sabini is the Chair of the Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Department at Northwell Health’s South Shore University Hospital. She is the Medical Director of the Northwell Health Concussion Program which offers comprehensive and evidence-based concussion management with the goal of return to sports, school, work and life reintegration. Dr. Sabini is also the Program Director for the Brain Injury Medicine Fellowship which provides specialized training in the specialty. She has served as a Ringside Physician for the New York Athletic Commission for almost ten years and has first-hand account of managing the needs and complexities of combat  related sport-injuries.

In accordance with General Business Law section 10(2), the commissioners do not receive a salary, however, they are entitled to be paid their actual and necessary traveling and other expenses incurred by them in the performance of their official duties. In the event a Chair is designated, the Chair is entitled to a statutory salary.

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