Orthopedic Team’s Field of Dreams
Sports Medicine Program Evolving
NorthBay Health Orthopedic Surgeon Robert Peterson, M.D., has a passion for helping athletes — young and old — stay in the game.
It is a deep and infectious enthusiasm rooted in a love of sport he traces back to his own childhood on a farm in Provo, Utah.
“Like every other red-blooded American boy, I dreamed of playing sports and wanting to be in the NBA or NFL,” said Dr. Peterson, who first began practicing medicine in California in 1998. “Later, I got to keep that connection in a medical sense.”
Since arriving in California, Dr. Peterson has served as a team physician at the University of California, Davis; Solano Community College; Vacaville High School; Will C. Wood High School; and Davis High School. During the football season, he can be spotted walking the sidelines at every Vacaville High School home game, where he soaks in “the energy of high school sports.”
Now, as the medical director with a mission to build NorthBay Health Sports Medicine into a dynamic program that will support everyone from professional athletes to weekend warriors alike, Dr. Peterson said he relates to the hopes and dreams and passions of those who love playing sports at all levels. Over the years he has treated local athletes from various arenas, from mountain bikers and baseball players to golfers and runners.
“If you can get people into that space, where they’re happy and have realistic expectations, and get them back out there doing what they love, that’s a good feeling.”
Robert Peterson, M.D., Orthopedic Surgeon
His teammates on NorthBay’s growing sports medicine team — fellow orthopedic surgeons including Neil Pathare, M.D., Michael Caravelli, M.D., Kevin Miller, D.P.M., and Jay Parkin, M.D. — are all on board.
Several of the surgeons have past experience with professional teams and athletes. Dr. Caravelli worked with the Chicago Cubs; Dr. Pathare assisted in the care of the New York Jets and the New York Islanders. As a Director of the NorthBay Orthopedic Trauma Program, Dr. Parkin has extensive experience with skiing and snowboarding injuries.
“It was a really great opportunity to see the level of care given to those professional athletes,” said Dr. Pathare, referring to his early training with the Jets and Islanders. “That’s the ultimate level of care. Not a lot of orthopedic surgeons treat patients at such a high level. So, to see how those patients are managed with that kind of gold standard of care is meaningful. Now I get to translate that over with our high school and college athletes.”
In fact, NorthBay has actually been ramping up for years by getting involved with local athletic programs. Dr. Peterson has served as team physician at Vacaville High School football home games since 1998. Dr. Pathare was the team physician for the Rodriguez High School football team for a few years, and now supports the American Canyon team.
Dr. Miller has been a longstanding team physician for St. Patrick’s/St. Vincent’s football team in Vallejo.
And when NorthBay Health sponsored the Men’s Tennis Challenger (starting in 2019, and then after the pandemic let up, again, in 2022 and 2023), a team of doctors stepped in to serve as the tournament physicians, tending to the needs of all players.
NorthBay has also sponsored several free sports physical clinics for local athletes.
Dr. Peterson said the program’s goal is patient-centered.
“Obviously, you want people to get back to the best they can be,” he said. “It’s perspective. If you have a 14-year-old kid who’s playing baseball and has a sore elbow, well now it’s about getting him back on the field. We think about long-term implications, but he wants to play right now. We treat that kid differently than the 45-year-old, beer-league softball guy. He wants to play too, but he doesn’t want to miss work tomorrow.
“If you can get people into that space, where they’re happy and have realistic expectations, and get them back out there doing what they love, that’s a good feeling.”
The future of the program is filled with possibilities. With Active Wellness opening the fitness center on the NorthBay Health VacaValley Hospital campus, there are opportunities for training and fitness programs to be developed for athletes, and for all those preparing for or recovering from surgery.
In addition, plans call for hiring an athletic trainer who can collaborate with local programs.
“I think the addition of an athletic trainer is going to expand our possibilities,” Dr. Peterson said. “For instance, we’re hoping to offer an annual fall sports clinic for sports injuries … and we’ve also looked around at club associations to provide coverage at local sporting events such as a 10K or the professional tennis tournament we now cover.
“The team is enthusiastic about our future. We really hit the skids with COVID. It really put the breaks on what we were trying to build. But now I think we’re getting ramped up again. From a NorthBay perspective, we’re ready again to apply some resources and make things happen.”
With energy and passion.
