Northside Hospital is pleased to announce the creation a new network of experts and facilities to provide comprehensive medical, surgical and concussion care.
 
From injury prevention, athletic training, physical therapy and sports performance services, to orthopedic surgery, orthobiologic treatments and diagnositic imaging, the new Northside Hospital Sports Medicine Network offers circumferential care and personalized services based entirely around the needs of athletes and active people of all ages and skill levels, from little league to weekend warriors to professional athletes.
 
The Network represents the consolidation and expansion of three physician practices – Northside Cherokee Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, Northside East Cobb Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine and The Orthopedic Sports Medicine Center of Atlanta.
 
Vonda J Wright, MD, MS, FAOA, has been named chief of Northside Hospital Sports Medicine and was selected to build and lead the new Network.
 
“At Northside Hospital Sports Medicine Network, we put the athlete and their family in the center of a comprehensive program of health as we harness the power of mobility to optimize performance from the ball field to the board room and empower a lifetime of health,” said Dr. Wright.
 
Dr. Wright is board certified in orthopedic surgery and sports medicine and is an internationally recognized authority on active aging and mobility. She joins Northside from the renowned University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Sports Medicine Program, where she served as the inaugural medical director of the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex and maintained a practice focusing on minimally invasive arthroscopic and reconstructive surgical techniques of the shoulder, hip and knee.
 
An innovator and researcher, Dr. Wright also was the founding director of the Performance and Research Initiative for Masters Athletes (PRIMA) and her pioneering research in mobility, musculoskeletal aging and hip arthroscopy is changing the way we view and treat sports injury and the aging process. She has written five books, is the author and contributor to multiple peer reviewed journal articles and is frequently consulted by the media as a sports medicine authority.
 
As a team physician, Dr. Wright served as the head team physician for the University of Pittsburgh Football team and Olympic Sport teams, the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite Youth Hockey system. She is a team doctors for the World Rugby 7’s and medical director of the Pittsburgh Triathlon and PGA Players Doc.
 
“The launch of the Sports Medicine Network builds on Northside’s strong clinical legacy of excellence and innovative care,” said Dr. Wright. “There are exciting opportunities ahead as we build a truly special environment for our patients, staff and physicians and I am honored to be a part of it.”
 
The Northside Hospital Sports Medicine Network includes a team of clinical experts – orthopedic sports surgeons, non-operative sports medicine doctors and physician assistants – who provide high-tech, high-touch evidence-based musculoskeletal care and offer a full complement of surgical and medical consultants, a comprehensive sports concussion program, sports nutrition, physical therapy and a sports performance and innovative research initiative.
 
Locations include Atlanta, Alpharetta, Buckhead, Buford, Cumming, East Cobb, Holly Springs, Midtown, Roswell and Woodstock.