American Medical Society for Sports Medicine
For Immediate Release Apr 17, 2019

Sports Medicine Expert from Japan Serves as AMSSM International Visiting Fellow

Yuka Tsukahara, MD, an assistant professor at the top school of medicine in Japan, served as the 2019 AMSSM International Visiting Fellow during the 28th Annual Meeting of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine this week in Houston, TX.

Dr. Tsukahara is an orthopedist at Keio University in Tokyo, specializing in sports medicine. Her research focuses on body composition in female athletes and its relation to sports performances. She has experience as a team physician of a national women’s soccer team in many categories, and she also serves as a member of the medical committee for Japanese athletics. Dr. Tsukahara will be working in the athlete village clinic during the Tokyo Olympics/Paralympics in 2020.

As the 2019 International Visiting Fellow, Dr. Tsukahara spent the past two weeks visiting sports medicine centers and lecturing in Boston, New York City and West Lafayette, IN. During the AMSSM Annual Meeting, she served as a Keynote Speaker and present on the topic of “Physical Activity and Performance: New Areas of Research.”

“I’m very grateful for this opportunity,” Dr. Tsukahara said. “I have learned a lot from the places I have visited, and it is always great to meet new people and learn from them. I am very happy to take home what I have learned from this Traveling Fellowship.”

The purpose of the AMSSM Traveling Fellowship program is to encourage academic interchange, share research and explore common clinical interests among sports medicine leaders. The experience will include the opportunity to view live patient encounters, tour sports medicine facilities, share cases and spend time with regional experts in sports medicine.

The second phase of the 2019 Fellowship will be a return visit to Japan from four U.S. Traveling Fellows — Founder and Past President Brian Halpern, MD; Aaron Gray, MD, Kentaro Onishi, MD and Kyle Smoot, MD. The Traveling Fellowship tour will take place beginning in September 2019 and include tops and presentations throughout Japan, starting in Tokyo.

This program was made possible by the generous support the AMSSM Foundation received from DJO Global. AMSSM wishes to thank DJO Global for its educational support of this exchange of ideas and knowledge by world leaders in sports medicine.

About the AMSSM Annual Meeting: The 2019 AMSSM Annual Meeting brings more than 2,000 sports medicine physicians together from throughout the United States and around the world. The meeting theme is, “Small Steps and Giant Leaps in Sports Medicine,” and explores the great accomplishments, evolving technology and the accumulation of new knowledge in the field of sports medicine.

About the AMSSM: AMSSM is a multi-disciplinary organization of more than 3,800 sports medicine physicians dedicated to education, research, advocacy and the care of athletes of all ages. The majority of AMSSM members are primary care physicians with fellowship training and added qualification in sports medicine who then combine their practice of sports medicine with their primary specialty. AMSSM includes members who specialize solely in non-surgical sports medicine and serve as team physicians at the youth level, NCAA, NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, MLS and NHL, as well as with Olympic and Paralympic teams. By nature of their training and experience, sports medicine physicians are ideally suited to provide comprehensive medical care for athletes, sports teams or active individuals who are simply looking to maintain a healthy lifestyle. www.amssm.org