NFL unveils HBCU sports medicine initiative

This coming football season, a new National Football League initiative will give 16 medical students across four historically Black colleges and universities the opportunity to practice sports medicine as part of the country’s most popular sports league.

The NFL Diversity in Sports Medicine Pipeline Initiative, launched May 24, is a joint program with the NFL Physicians Society and the Professional Football Athletic Trainer Society, according to a news release. Selected students will participate in a one-month clinical rotation at one of eight NFL teams: the Atlanta Falcons, Cincinnati Bengals, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams, New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers, Tennessee Titans and Washington Commanders.

The initiative aims to address the historic underrepresentation of Black physicians in sports medicine, both in and out of the NFL, by opening a new pipeline into the field, said Tim McAdams, president of the NFL Physicians Society, during a news conference on May 24.

“We have a lot of work to do. At the NFL Physicians Society, we have 5% Black members,” he said. “That change has to start from within.”

Participating HBCUs are the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C., Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta and Meharry Medical College in Nashville, according to the news release.

Dr. Lisa Barkley, chair of family medicine at the Charles R. Drew University College of Medicine, said the program has the potential to be a wellspring of success for Black students in sports medicine.

“Providing our medical students with this early on in their career is really going to be career-changing for them,” she said. “Having sports medicine providers who look like the patients, the athletes they’re serving, who can relate and talk about some of the impacts of social factors on overall health, is really going to help to improve the overall health and well-being of our athletes.”

In 2023, the NFL will expand the initiative to include more teams, medical disciplines and medical schools, according to the news release. But the focus now is building next season’s cohort of medical students, according to Dr. Hugh Mighty, dean of the Howard University College of Medicine and senior vice president of health affairs.

“There are certain specialties where the kids come along and they know this is kind of what they want their career to be,” he said. “So if anything, we’re going to have the problem of keeping people back until we expand the program, which hopefully will be sooner  rather than later.”