KU medical student trains with Chiefs during clinical rotation on the gridiron

Fourth-year University of Kansas School of Medicine student Elizabeth Holmes will be watching the Super Bowl along with the rest of Chiefs Kingdom. Seeing a player take a hard hit or go down with an injury makes any fan nervous, but Holmes will be watching this year with even more scrutiny.

Holmes spent a month last summer on-field with the Kansas City Chiefs and their medical team at training camp in St. Joseph, Missouri. There, she helped monitor and care for players alongside their primary care doctors, orthopedic surgeons and athletic trainers — including physicians from The University of Kansas Health System, the official health care provider of the Chiefs.

Holmes was one of 21 medical students nationwide selected by the National Football League to complete a one-month clinical rotation with their home teams, as part of an NFL sports medicine pipeline initiative.

Chiefs players may be professional athletes at the pinnacle of fitness, strength and athleticism.

But Holmes said her experience showed her they can be an inspiration for us all.

“I do love that I was able to be around people that love a sport so much they dedicate their lives to it, and seeing the hard work and determination that goes into being a pro athlete,” Holmes said.

“It also made me respect our everyday athletes.”

“Anyone who is trying to move their bodies in some capacity really deserves a pat on the back.”

Holmes — who plans to be a family medicine doctor with a fellowship in sports medicine — hopes to translate the grit she saw on the field into treating her own patients. She wants to make sure everything she does for them is the best that she can.

Even though they may never play in a Super Bowl, those “everyday athletes” deserve to feel like what they want to do matters, Holmes said. Just like Chiefs players, it’s important for them to take care of themselves and deal with nagging injuries so they can stay in the game long-term.

Holmes herself has been an athlete since childhood, working through a number of injuries over the years. The worst happened during basketball season her senior year of high school, when she tore her ACL and meniscus. Following knee surgery, she couldn’t walk for six weeks and ultimately decided not to pursue sports in college.

Now she believes working through that challenge will help her treat her own patients with empathy, especially young athletes.

“Looking back, I am grateful for the experience,” she said. “I know how they’re feeling. I know how devastating it is to be told you cannot play your sport.”

The NFL program, in its third year, aims to bring diverse and underrepresented medical students into the sports medicine professional pipeline, according to organizers.

Nicole Yedlinsky, M.D, associate professor and program director for the Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship at KU Medical Center, recommended Holmes for the program. Especially considering the increasing interest in women’s participation in sports, female physicians are still underrepresented in sports medicine, Yedlinsky said.

“Anything we can do to get the physicians that care for our athlete population to more accurately reflect those patients, I think is a good thing,” Yedlinsky said. “It allows for someone to see themselves in those people who are taking care of them.”