Former athletes meld interest in sports and medicine to treat others By Mary Dieter
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ometimes a single incident can influence a career. That’s what happened for four DePauw University alumni and former athletes who, as medical professionals, practice in the sports world. Treating a single patient led to Nancy Gritter ’88, a kidney doctor, becoming the first female lead internist for a National Football League team. Erin Andrade ’08’s moment came much earlier in life; as a youth she won an award through which she discovered a passion for working with wheelchair athletes and treating people with neurological conditions. Michael Akinbola ’09 and Michael Stuart ’79 both saw medical practitioners in action when they sustained football injuries at DePauw, causing both to go into sports medicine – though along different paths. All four alums say that their own athletic participation also influenced their work in sports. Here are their stories:
28 I DEPAUW MAGAZINE SUMMER 2021
