Program in Sports Medicine

Rahul Kapur, MD is Director of the Program in Sports Medicine for the DFMCH. He previously served as the Director of Education Programs in Sports Medicine for the Department from 2019-2022. He is also core faculty for the St John's Family Medicine Residency and the UMN Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship.

He came to the Twin Cities from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA where he served as Fellowship Director for the Penn Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship from 2010-2018. He served as Chief Medical Physician for Penn Athletics from 2007-2018.

He currently serves as a team physician for the Minnesota Twins and St. Paul Saints, and was a team physician for the USA Lacrosse Women's Senior Team from 2017-2022. He also served as Co-Medical Director for the Twin Cities Marathon in 2022.

Associate Professor

Suzanne Hecht, MD, is faculty in the University of Minnesota Program in Sports Medicine and directs the University of Minnesota Sports Medicine Fellowship. She sees patients at University of Minnesota Physicians Sports Medicine Clinic and has a Certificate of Added Qualifications in sports medicine and certification in clinical densitometry. Dr. Hecht also teaches residents in sports medicine workshops and provides training room and sideline care to University of Minnesota athletes as well as the USA Gymnastics and US Figure Skating teams.

Adjunct Assistant Professor 

Chris Ashton, MS, LAT, ATC serves as adjunct faculty with the Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship. He currently serves as Concussion Program Coordinator at Twin Cities Orthopedics as well as providing collaborative primary care sports medicine care with Dr. David Olson. 

Assistant Professor

Diana Cowdrey, MD, CAQSM, is faculty with the University of Minnesota Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship and St John's Family Medicine Residency. She practices both family medicine and primary care sports medicine. Her clinical interests include preventative care, overuse injuries, and ultrasound guided procedures.

Assistant Professor 

Patrick Morris, MD, is faculty in the University of Minnesota Program in Sports Medicine. He holds a Certificate of Added Qualifications in sports medicine and completed a sports medicine fellowship. He is a team physician for the University of Minnesota Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and sees patients at the University of Minnesota Health Sports Medicine Clinic. In addition, Dr. Morris leads workshops in sports medicine for residents.

Assistant Professor

Jennifer Oberstar, MD, FAAFP, CAQ SM, is an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota Sports Medicine program. Seeing patients at MHealth Fairview Sports Medicine Clinic (CSC) and being the sports medicine liaison at M Health Fairview Clinic - Smiley's allows clinical time for developing patient relationships. 

Dr. Oberstar is a sports medicine educational lead and clinical instructor for medical students and residents. Among her other leadership roles she is coordinating the program and functioning as an advisor for Exercise Is Medicine On Campus (EIM-OC). Dr. Oberstar covers community events such as high school game coverage, the Twin Cities Marathon, City of Lakes Loppet and Minnesota High School League state tournaments in multiple sports. She is currently a co-medical director for the USA Cup soccer tournament in Blaine, Minnesota. Her research interests focus on Exercise Is Medicine in the community and on medical device development for training ultrasound guided injections. Physicians from other medical disciplines have collaborated with her to publish in scholarly journals.

Assistant Professor

Dr. David Olson is an associate director of the University of Minnesota Sports Medicine Fellowship and directs the sports medicine curriculum at the University of Minnesota North Memorial Hospital Family Medicine Residency. He enjoys providing team care for high school, college, and professional sports teams, including the Minnesota Vikings, University of Minnesota Gophers, Minneapolis Community and Technical College, and Roseville Area High School. 

Assistant Professor 

Edward Smith, DO, is faculty in the University of Minnesota Program in Sports Medicine. He sees patients at M Health Fairview Sports Medicine Clinic, M Physicians Broadway Family Medicine Clinic, and M Health Fairview Clinic - Bethesda. He has a Certificate of Added Qualifications in Sports Medicine and clinical interest in fitness and nutrition and overuse injuries in the recreational athlete.

Professor

Steven Stovitz, MD, MS, is a family physician and a subspecialist in primary care sports medicine. He serves as a rater for McMaster's Online Rating of Evidence and serves as an associate editor at the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the journal Medicine and Science in Sport and the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise . His main research interest is the interpretation and translation of research findings for the practice of evidence-based medicine. He has particular interests in how the principles of causal inference apply to clinical decision-making, and also in how the statistical literacy of clinicians affects the shared clinical decision making process.