Thomas Best, MD, PhD, Co-Director, Christopher Kaeding, MD, Co-Director
Medical and athletics experts at The Ohio State University have joined forces in a comprehensive sports medicine initiative that unites clinical care for athletes with research and education programs to benefit the entire Ohio State community. This intensified emphasis goes far beyond clinical treatment for Ohio State athletes. Multidisciplinary research and education programs integrate many surgical and medical specialties to aid students and trainees in all segments of sports medicine. The program continues to expand and engage multiple disciplines.
Ongoing Research Programs
- Multicenter Orthopaedic Outcomes Network/Knee – Supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health, this multicenter collaborative program evaluates outcomes and predictors of outcomes following knee ligament surgery using validated clinical outcomes instruments. Members include Ohio State, Vanderbilt University, the University of Iowa, the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Colorado.
- Multicenter Orthopaedic Outcomes Network/Shoulder – This multicenter collaborative program evaluates outcomes and predictors of outcomes following shoulder surgery using validated clinical outcomes instruments. Members include Ohio State, Vanderbilt University, the Cleveland Clinic and University of Colorado.
- Sports Medicine/Imaging Research Group – This collaborative group investigates innovative techniques to evaluate health and structure of articular cartilage and ligaments.
- Biomechanics and Motion Capture Lab – This new program resulted from the recruitment of its leader, Ajit Chaudhari, PhD, from Stanford University. Construction of his lab is under way. Areas of initial study include identifying kinematic and anatomic predictors of injuries to the knee and shoulder.
- Sports Medicine Muscle Injury Lab – Led by Thomas Best, MD, PhD, this multidisciplinary lab receives extramural funding to study skeletal muscle injury and repair. Best’s lab collaborates with other labs on the Ohio State campus, including Sudha Agarwal, PhD, Oral Biology, and Denis Guttridge, PhD, Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics.
- Sports Pulmonology Program – Led by John Mastronarde, MD, and Jonathan Parsons, MD, this program conducts research in asthma, sleep apnea and vocal cord dysfunction issues in athletes. Their work has resulted in one funded proposal and two manuscripts.
