The Mount Sinai Medical Center has been named the first-ever official medical service provider and hospital of the USTA and the US Open. The five-year agreement calls for Mount Sinai to provide on-site clinical care for tennis players competing in the US Open, develop policies around injury prevention, and conduct educational outreach to promote the health benefits of playing tennis.
Mount Sinai is also the official sponsor of Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day, an annual tennis event for children, which takes place before the US Open on Saturday, August 24, at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Mount Sinai will have an informational booth on the grounds of the US Open, which will be held August 26 – September 9.
At a special press event held in Guggenheim Pavilion on Thursday, May 30, a temporary tennis court was set up to hold a demonstration that included tennis pros James Blake and Patrick McEnroe, General Manager of Player Development at the USTA, and children from the Harlem Junior Tennis and Education Program (HJTEP). The HJTEP was founded in 1972 to give inner-city children the opportunity to excel in tennis and develop self-discipline, self-esteem, and sportsmanship.
Alexis Chiang Colvin, MD, Assistant Professor of Sports Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in the Leni and Peter W. May Department of Orthopaedics, will serve as the USTA’s Chief Medical Officer, and as Medical Advisor to the U.S. Fed Cup team. Dr. Colvin previously served as a consultant to the USTA for the US Open, providing medical care to the players.
Dr. Colvin’s colleague, James Gladstone, MD, Associate Professor of Sports Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Co-Director of Sports Medicine at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, will serve as Medical Advisor to the U.S. Davis Cup team.
Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, said, “The USTA and Mount Sinai share a common goal to promote health and safe, effective exercise. We are united in this effort because America is in a health crisis, with escalating prevalence of childhood and adult obesity, and many related conditions. We at Mount Sinai are proud to support the USTA’s outreach and educational programs that are aimed at players young and old, established and inexperienced, and from a great range of neighborhoods and backgrounds.”
Other Mount Sinai orthopaedic leaders who will serve as consultants include: Evan L. Flatow, MD, Bernard J. Lasker Professor and Chair of the Leni and Peter W. May Department of Orthopaedics at Mount Sinai; Michael Hausman, MD, Dr. Robert K. Lippman Professor and Vice-Chair of Orthopaedics and Chief, Hand and Elbow Surgery at Mount Sinai; Andrew C. Hecht, MD, Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, and Neurosurgery, and Co-Director of Orthopaedic Spine Surgery at Mount Sinai; and Steven Weinfeld, MD, Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Chief of the Foot and Ankle Service at Mount Sinai.
Additional members of Mount Sinai’s support team will include: Michael Yorio, MD, Assistant Professor of Orthopaedics; Deena Casiero, MD; and Brian Neri, MD, who are also members of ProHEALTH Care Associates, a Long Island-based physician group practice that has been providing medical services at the US Open since 1997.
