Fellowships Equip Physicians to Treat Professional Athletes and Weekend Warriors Alike

Seated left to right, sports medicine fellow Aaron Smathers, M.D., family medicine resident Samson Adewale, M.D., and sports medicine fellow Amanda Sadler, M.D., perform a bike fit exam on a patient.

Across the world, in settings that range from NFL games and Olympic events to primary care clinics and orthopedic practices, graduates of the OU College of Medicine’s primary care sports medicine fellowships can be found.

The fellowships, offered both on the Oklahoma City campus and at the OU-TU School of Community Medicine in Tulsa, are considered among the nation’s best. For some 30 years, fellows have deepened their sports medicine knowledge and skill within a primary care approach that is important for professional athletes and weekend warriors alike. As with any medical discipline, sports medicine has changed with technological advances and new knowledge, but at its heart, the focus is on helping people stay active in the pursuits they love.

Current sports medicine fellows Amanda Sadler, M.D., and Aaron Smathers, M.D., practice casting on each other. Brian Coleman, M.D., leads the sports medicine fellowship program on the Oklahoma City campus.

“Whether our patients are professional or amateur athletes, getting active and staying active promotes good health,” said Jim Barrett, M.D., originator of the Oklahoma City fellowship and now chair of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine. In Oklahoma City, the sports medicine fellowship is directed by Brian Coleman, M.D., who completed his own fellowship under Barrett.

Brian Coleman, M.D., leads the sports medicine fellowship program on the Oklahoma City campus.

Two fellows are accepted each year, typically from a primary care residency, for the one-year program. Coverage of events gives the fellows hands-on experience in a variety of sports. Fellows provide medical coverage for the Oklahoma Dodgers, the AAA affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, as well as the OKC Blue, the NBA’s minor league. At the university level, they cover athletic events at the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma City University and Oklahoma Christian University. The also coordinate coverage and provide on-site care for amateur athletic events like the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon and the Redman Triathlon. On campus, they see patients in a variety of clinic settings, where they interact with cardiologists, orthopedic surgeons, exercise medicine specialists, and providers in other healthcare disciplines.

“When they cover sporting events, our fellows are learning to think on their feet,” Coleman said. “The experience gained is one of confidence and the ability to handle whatever may come up. They also learn how to set up emergency plans and to know what the next steps are if something happens. They are also willing to put in extra time and energy for after-hours coverage because athletes don’t play sports from 8 to 5. “However, the majority of our patients aren’t athletes per se – they are people who are trying to stay active and do the things they like to do,” Coleman said. “When people are injured, we try to modify activities in order to get them back to what they enjoy doing. ‘Rest’ is a relative term. Objects at rest tend to stay at rest, so we try to get people moving. It’s a fine balance.”

On the Tulsa campus, Jason Deck, M.D., leads a one-year program that similarly splits its time between coverage of sporting events and patient care in the clinic. Fellows provide medical coverage for all athletic events at the University of Tulsa and Oral Roberts University, including traveling to away games with the TU football team. They cover the Tulsa Drillers, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ AA affiliate, as well as the Tulsa Athletic, a semi-pro soccer team. On the high school level, they cover Booker T. Washington High School, whose graduates have played in the NFL and NBA in record numbers. Fellows also coordinate and provide medical coverage at events like the Route 66 Marathon, Tulsa Tough, the Big 12 Wrestling Tournament and others.

Jason Deck, M.D., leads the sports medicine fellowship on the Tulsa campus.

Eric Sandoval, M.D., a Tulsa sports medicine fellow in 2016-17, is pictured with the mascot for Oral Roberts University, one of the local universities where fellows provide medical coverage.

“Hands-on experience is important for our fellows,” said Deck, who completed his own fellowship at the OU-TU School of Community Medicine. “If our fellow is at the game when someone tears their ACL, the fellow will be the one doing the exam and taking care of the patient. If they’re not at the game, the athlete is going to be sent to the ER, where someone else will do the initial evaluation and may or may not do the right thing. The same is true of concussions. Seeing those injuries first-hand and having a longer-term relationship with the athletes allows us to provide better care.”

Former sports medicine fellow Abhi Davlapur, M.D., tends to a mixed martial arts fighter during an event in 2019.

Tulsa fellows also care for patients in the clinic. Exercise prescriptions are commonly used to help patients with medical issues like diabetes and high blood pressure. The campus also has one of the only dedicated concussion clinics in Oklahoma, where they see patients from across the state, and a state-of-the-art facility where they can perform V02 max testing, gait analysis and more. Much has changed in the field of sports medicine since the fellowships began, and much is on the horizon, such as regenerative medicine. One of the biggest changes in the past decade is the increasing use of ultrasound, both at sporting events and in the clinic. More accessible and less expensive than an X-ray or MRI, ultrasound allows physicians to see the joints, muscles, tendons and nerves.

“There’s no radiation associated with ultrasound, and it’s dynamic,” Deck said. “If you use an X-ray or MRI, you get an image of the patient in one position. With ultrasound, you can watch the patient move so that you can see what’s happening in real time, not just in one position.”

Tulsa campus sports medicine physicians and faculty members Lamont Cavanagh, M.D., and Tommy Kern, M.D., work with a patient.

Concussions have been taken more seriously in the past decade as well. No longer do athletes simply “get their bell rung”; rather, physicians make decisions that allow the athlete’s brain to heal appropriately so they aren’t at risk for developing problems or for having a subsequent concussion.

Over the past year, COVID-19 has challenged sports medicine physicians in new and unexpected ways. Early in the pandemic, there was concern that athletes who got COVID-19 might face cardiac issues after infection. Although the risk now appears to be much lower than originally thought, the virus is still a daily concern and testing is conducted frequently.

Handling both the unforeseen and the routine is the role of a sports medicine fellow, no matter where they ultimately practice medicine. “Our fellowship provides that extra tool in the toolbox for what they want to do when they complete the program,” Coleman said.