Biography

Summer Ott, PsyD, is a neuropsychologist with extensive clinical and research experience in sports-related concussions. She currently serves as the neuropsychological consultant for most Houston professional sports teams, including the Texans, Rockets, Dynamo, Dash, and SaberCats, as well as many Texas collegiate and school district teams. In addition, her practice includes neuropsychological evaluations of former collegiate and professional athletes and patients with non-sports-related traumatic brain injuries.

Ott also is an associate professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. She’s the director of the UTHealth Houston Concussion Program in affiliation with Memorial Hermann | Rockets Sports Medicine Institute.

Ott serves on the medical advisory committees for USA Cheer and Major League Rugby and currently chairs the Sports Neuropsychology Action and Professional Practice committee. She’s a founding member and of the Sports Neuropsychological Society.

Ott has received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, The Moody Endowment, and Mission Connect to study concussive injury in adolescent athletes. She has co-authored publications on sports-related concussions. She was a member of the task force that developed verbiage for a sports concussion bill in Texas known as Natasha’s Law, which established return-to-play guidelines for school-aged athletes with concussions.

Education

Undergraduate Degree
University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, Missouri
Masters of Science
University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, Missouri
Doctorate
Doctorate of Psychology, Forest Institute of Professional Psychology, Springfield, Missouri
Internship
Neuropsychology Internship, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Fellowship
Neuropsychology Fellowship, Sport Concussion Program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Publications

Visit the PubMed profile page

Refereed Original Articles in Journals

  1. Ryan, J.J., Schnakenberg, S.D., & Kreiner, D.S. Effects of altered instructions on WAIS-III Digit Symbol-Coding subtest. Psychological Reports, 88, 987-988, 2001.
  2. Kreiner, D.S., Schnakenberg, S.D., Green, A.G., Costello, M.J., & Mclin, A.F. Effects of spelling errors on the perception of writers.  Journal of General Psychology, 129, 5-17, 2002.
  3. Ryan, J.J., & Schnakenberg-Ott, S.D. Scoring Reliability on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale –Third Edition (WAIS-III).  Assessment,10, 151-159, 2003.
  4. Claycomb, C.D., Ryan, J.J., Miller, L.J., & Schnakenberg-Ott, S.D. Relationships among ADHD, induced labor, and selected physiological and demographic variables. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 60, 689-693, 2004.
  5. Schnakenberg-Ott, S.D., Ryan, J.J., & Tree, H.A. WAIS-III incidental learning base rates: Findings for college student and patient samples. Perceptual Motor Skills, 99, 903-908, 2004.
  6. Schnakenberg-Ott, S.D., Ryan, J.J., Tree, H.A., Kreiner, D.S., & Halfaker, D.A. High scatter and WAIS-III short form validity. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 20, 936, 2005.
  7. Ryan, J. J., Kreiner, D. S., Bartels, J. M., Tree, H. A., & Schnakenberg-Ott, S. D. Thirty-second interval patterns for WAIS-III Digit Symbol and Symbol Search. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 21, 705-709, 2006.
  8. Moser, R., Schatz, P., Neidzwski, K. & Ott, S. Group vs. individual administration affects baseline neurocognitive test performance. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, (39), 2325-2330,
  9. Schatz, P., Moser, R., Solomon, G., Ott, S., & Karpf. R. Prevalence of invalid computerized baseline neurocognitive test result in high school and college athletes. Journal of Athletic Training, 47(3), 289-296,
  10. Schatz, P., Kelley, T., Ott, S., Solomon, G., Elbin, R., Higgins, K. et al. Utility of repeated assessment following invalid baseline performance. Journal of Athletic Training, 49(5), 659-64,
  11. Ott, S., Schatz, P., Solomon, G., & Ryan, J. Neurocognitive performance and symptom profiles of Spanish-speaking Hispanic athletes on ImPACT test. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 29(2), 152-163,
  12. Amonette, W.E., Boyle, M., Psarakis, M., Barker, J., Dupler, T., & Ott, S. Neurocognitive responses to a single bout of  static squats with whole body vibration. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 29 (1), 96-100,
  13. Ryan, J., Sumerall, S., Seeley, J., Umfleet, L., Kreiner, D., Brown, K. & Ott, S. WAIS-IV coding performance of young adults: Transcription patterns and incidental learning procedures. North American Journal of Psychology, 17 (1), 197-212,
  14. Blake, M., Ott, S., Villanyi, E., Kazhuro, K., & Schatz, P. Influence of language of administration on ImPACT performance by bilingual Spanish-English College students. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 30 (4), 302-309,
  15. Newome, M., Li, X., Wilde, E., Ott, S. Biekman, B., Hunger, J., Dash, P., Taylor, B., & Levin, H. Functional connectivity is altered in concussed adolescents despite medical clearance to return to play: A preliminary report. Frontiers in Neurology, (7), 1-9, 2017.
  16. Gunter, K.B., Shields, C.J., Ott, S.D., & Coronado, R.A. Rehabilitation of an adolescent equestrian athlete with a history of multiple concussions: a case report describing an adapted return to sport protocol. Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, 48(12), 934-942,
  17. Aggarwal, S.S., Ott, S.D., Padhye, N.S.Meininger, J.C., & Armstrong, T.S. Clinical and demographic predictors of concussion resolution in adolescents: A retrospective study. Applied Neuropsychology, Child, 8(1), 50-60, 2019.
  18. Wilde, E., Newsome, M. Ott, S., Hunter, J., Dash, P., Redell, J. et al. (2019). Persistent disruptions of brain connectivity after sports related concussion in a female athlete. Journal of Neurotrauma, 1089/neu.2019.6377. [Epub ahead of print]
  19. Mohler, S., Elbin, J., Ott, S., Butts, C., McDermott, B., & Ganio, M. How long after maximal exertion should baseline computerized neurocognitive testing and symptom assessment be administered? Brain Injury, 35(2), 241-247. 2021.
  20. Ott S.D., Cheema SK, Ryder A, Schatz P, Gonzalez LA, Duran J, Schulz PE. Information seeking behaviors and attitudes of wives of former football players regarding chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Appl Neuropsychol Adult. 2025 Jan-Feb;32(1):20-27. doi: 10.1080/23279095.2022.2145892. Epub 2022 Nov 24. PMID: 36420766.
  21. Ott S., Redell J, Cheema S, Schatz P, Becker E. Progesterone Levels in Adolescent Female Athletes May Contribute to Decreased Cognitive Performance During Acute Phase of Sports-Related Concussion. Dev Neuropsychol. 2024 Mar-Apr;49(2):86-97. doi: 10.1080/87565641.2024.2309556. Epub 2024 Feb 5. PMID: 38314752.
  22. Ott S.D., Cheema SK, Axel H, Aggarwal SS, Parks NR, Gattu N, Schatz P. Concussion knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors: a comparison study of youth athletes and their parents. Phys Sportsmed. 2025 Feb 25:1-7. doi: 10.1080/00913847.2025.2470608. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39976258.

Invited Articles

  1. Solomon, G.S., Ott, S.D., & Lovell, M.R. Long term neurocognitive dysfunction in sports: what is the evidence? Clinics in Sports Medicine, 30 (1), 165-77, 2011.
  2. Ott, S.D. & Herceg, M. Psychologists best to assess concussions, gender effects. National Psychologist, 26, (3), 13, 2017.
  3. Ott, S.D., Bailey, C.M., & Broshek, D.K. An interdisciplinary approach to sports concussion evaluation and management: The role of a neuropsychologist. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, https://doi.org/10.1093/arclin/acx132. 2018.

Invited Book Chapter

  1. Schnakenberg-Ott, S.D., & Lovell, M.R. “Psychological stress and spinal cord injury.” In Fink, G, Ed. Elsevier, San Diego, CA, 557-560. 2007.