Emergency Medicine Sports Medicine

At the Division of Emergency Medicine Sports Medicine, we believe strongly in educating the next generation of health care providers as well as conducting research to improve diagnostics and treatments for our emergency and sports medicine patients.

Education

We support several vibrant educational opportunities. All medical students and residents at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai spend some time working with our experts both on the hospital floors at The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai West and in our faculty practice offices as part of their orthopedics training. We also provide regular orthopedics lectures and hands-on procedure workshops to emergency medicine residents and physician assistants. Melissa D. Leber, MD, and Amie M. Kim, MD, share their expertise outside of Mount Sinai by regularly lecturing and leading workshops at national conferences for organizations such as the American College of Emergency Physicians and the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine.

Research

Our current research projects include evaluating the effectiveness of using an electroencephalogram headset to perform evaluations for concussion diagnoses and return to play guidelines. We are also investigating the use of physical therapy prescriptions in the emergency department to improve care of musculoskeletal injuries.

Sports Medicine Fellowship

We offer a joint primary care sports medicine fellowship with the Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance. Together, we host four fellowship positions, one of which is reserved for an emergency medicine-trained applicant. Upon completion of the one-year fellowship, which is approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, you are eligible to earn a Certificate of Added Qualification in primary care sports medicine. In addition to working with Drs. Leber and Kim, you will work with faculty from many different disciplines.

Our fellowship provides substantial time to enable you to master musculoskeletal procedures such as:

  • Biologics
  • Botox
  • Diagnostic and therapeutic musculoskeletal ultrasound
  • Percutaneous tenotomy

We also teach our fellows about human performance, metabolic testing, and advanced fitness evaluation using the Mount Sinai Abilities Research Center and as part of the Red Bull North American Medical Team. 

Academic Curriculum

Our academic curriculum includes rotations through multiple clinical sites. Interdisciplinary faculty represent the Departments of Emergency Medicine, Physical Medicine Rehabilitation, Orthopedics, Interventional Pain, Radiology, Exercise Physiology and the Mount Sinai Abilities Research Center, Physical Therapy, Sports Psychology, and Sports Nutrition.

Scholarly Opportunities

The Mount Sinai Department of Emergency Medicine is continually listed in the top five National Institutes of Health-funded emergency medicine research programs in the country. Each fellow spends 10 percent of their rotation time in research / scholarly activity with robust ongoing investigations and mentorship. To successfully complete the fellowship program, you will submit one scholarly article with full faculty and editorial support.

Operations and Emergency Department Patient Follow-up

We are proud to offer easy and quick follow-up to our Emergency Department patients who present with musculoskeletal injuries and pain. Both Drs. Leber and Kim have very accessible sports medicine office hours. We do our best to provide feedback regarding patient care and outcomes to the Emergency Department provider who initially treated them. We find that this optimizes the patient experience and provides a service to our Emergency Department colleagues.

Athletic Coverage

Athletic coverage includes time in the training room and team physician experience for high school, collegiate, and elite level athletics. Sports faculty and fellows collectively perform as player physicians for a variety of organizations including:

  • Australian Rugby
  • Medgar Evers College Athletics
  • National Basketball Association
  • National Football League
  • New York City Public School Athletic League
  • Red Bull athletes
  • USA Fencing
  • USA Boxing
  • US Open Tennis Championships
  • United States Tennis Association

We also provide physician sports coverage to athletics at the Horace Mann School.