John Vander Schilden, M.D., a former football player and wrestler, is the department’s chief sports medicine specialist. Dr. Vander Schilden grew up in Evanston, Illinois, and graduated from DePauw University in 1973 with a degree in Zoology. He graduated from Rush Medical College in 1977 and completed Orthopaedic Surgery residency training programs at the University of Florida and the University of South Florida before taking a fellowship to study Trauma and Sports Medicine in Munich, Germany, in 1985. He is a team physician for the University of Arkansas athletic departments in Fayetteville and Little Rock and a consultant to the National Football league. Dr. Vander Schilden has served as a team physician for the NCAA wrestling championships, the Arkansas Travelers minor league baseball team, and at the Olympic Training Center in 1991 at Lake Placid, New York. John Vander Schilden, M.D., a former football player and wrestler, is the department’s chief sports medicine specialist. Dr. Vander Schilden grew up in Evanston, Illinois, and graduated from DePauw University in 1973 with a degree in Zoology. He graduated from Rush Medical College in 1977 and completed Orthopaedic Surgery residency training programs at the University of Florida and the University of South Florida before taking a fellowship to study Trauma and Sports Medicine in Munich, Germany, in 1985. He is a team physician for the University of Arkansas athletic departments in Fayetteville and Little Rock and a consultant to the National Football league. Dr. Vander Schilden has served as a team physician for the NCAA wrestling championships, the Arkansas Travelers minor league baseball team, and at the Olympic Training Center in 1991 at Lake Placid, New York.

His clinical work focuses on sports injuries and trauma, and his research activities include studying meniscal repair, biomechanics of ligaments and biomechanics of fixation devices.