Mayo Clinic experts are available to offer comment throughout the Olympics and Paralympic Games on everything from the physiology and psychology of competitive athletes to injuries they may be coping with and controversies such as gender testing and doping. For interviews with the following, please contact Sharon Theimer in Mayo Clinic Public Affairs at 507-284-5005 or email newsbureau@mayo.edu:
Michael Joyner, M.D., is an anesthesiologist and specialist in exercise science with Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., with a special interest in track and field. Dr. Joyner is an expert on aging athletes, the relationship of environment to training, performance-enhancing drugs and how genetic variation and gender play out in Olympic competition.
Max Trenerry, Ph.D., specializes in sports psychology with Mayo in Minnesota. He can discuss the role of psychological factors in athletic performance and how to keep children interested in sports. Dr. Trenerry is also a soccer coach who routinely talks to parents and coaches about what is appropriate in coach-athlete relationships.
Mary O’Connor, M.D., is chair of orthopedic surgery at Mayo Clinic in Florida. Dr. O’Connor was a member of the Olympic rowing team in 1980 when the United States boycotted the games. She specializes in women’s health and hip and knee replacement and can talk about bone damage and treatment.
Michael Jensen, M.D., is an endocrinologist and obesity expert with Mayo in Minnesota who can discuss how the body burns energy. His research includes the effects of obesity and hormonal factors on body-fat distribution and exploring how people cope with excess energy intake and energy deficits.
Karen Andrews, M.D., specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation including amputee rehabilitation, vascular wounds and vascular rehabilitation, at Mayo in Minnesota. Her research includes the management of neuropathic, arterial and venous wounds.
Gregory Poland, M.D., of Mayo in Rochester is an expert in infectious diseases, including public outbreaks of illnesses such as measles, and in vaccinations.
Edward Laskowski, M.D., is co-director of the Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center at Mayo in Minnesota. His specialties include sports medicine, fitness, and strength and stability training. Dr. Laskowski has served on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, on the Chicago Marathon medical staff and the 2002 Winter Olympics medical staff at the Olympic Polyclinic in the Olympic Village.
David W. Dodick, M.D., is a neurologist with Mayo Clinic in Arizona and president of the American Headache Society. Dr. Dodick can discuss head injuries including concussions.
Michael Stuart, M.D., is vice chair of orthopedic surgery and co-director of the Sports Medicine Center. He can discuss arthroscopy, knee ligament reconstruction, partial knee replacement, concussions and doping. He was a team physician for the U.S. men’s Olympic team in 2010.
Sharon Mulvagh, M.D., is a cardiovascular expert, director of the Women’s Heart Clinic at Mayo in Minnesota, and a marathon runner. She has collaborated with NASA scientists to study the acute and chronic physiological adaptations of the cardiovascular system to weightlessness in space.
Richard Berger, M.D., Ph.D., is an orthopedic surgeon specializing in the biomechanics and nerves of the hand and wrist, including injury and repair. He discovered and pioneered treatment of the wrist injury that nearly ended Major League Baseball player Jayson Werth’s career.
Diane Dahm, M.D., is an orthopedic surgeon with Mayo’s Sports Medicine Center and Sports Performance Training Program in Minnesota who has served as an Olympic and professional sports team physician. She is an expert on anterior cruciate ligament injuries, reconstruction and sports activities following knee arthroplasty and shoulder trauma.
Eric Matteson, M.D., is chair of rheumatology at Mayo in Minnesota. He is an expert on various forms of arthritis including osteoarthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis, and on joint protection.
Jay Smith, M.D., of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Mayo in Minnesota is an expert on sports injuries including shoulder injuries and biomechanics and golf injuries generally. He has been a team trainer for the Minnesota Twins.
