Naresh Rao (D.O. ’97), a physician for the U.S. Olympic water polo team, discovered sports medicine as a career at NYIT.

By Sabrina Polidoro

Naresh Rao (D.O. ’97), a physician for the U.S. Olympic water polo team, admits he didn’t know a thing about sports medicine until he took a course at NYIT’s College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYCOM).

“The field sounded awesome, and I didn’t realize I could do this as a career,” says Rao. The two-week elective class, taught by Dean Thomas Scandalis (D.O. ’87), was the entry point for a global career that has brought Rao to Romania, England, Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and China ... and right back home in New York City, where he practices at Sports Medicine at Chelsea, a multispecialty medical facility that merges primary care with sports medicine.

“My dad is a physician who trained in India, and he said New York was the best place for me to be,” says Rao. “I love osteopathic health and wellness, so NYCOM was a perfect fit for me.”

His passion earned him a fellowship that took him around the world to study with leaders in various health disciplines, including cardiovascular disease prevention, addiction medicine, spiritual healing, and skin wellness.

“I spent a fair amount of time in England with a cardiovascular physiologist learning rehabilitation methods,” says Rao. “I also learned about addiction and looking at how to get down to the core of someone and allow them to be drug free. It was a rewarding experience.”

After his fellowship, he co-founded the Lifewellness Institute in San Diego, Calif., with sports medicine expert E. Lee Rice, D.O. While serving as a volunteer physician for the San Diego State Department of Athletics, Rao got involved with U.S. Olympic water polo. He has also consulted for the U.S. Tennis Association.

“The pinnacle for any sports medicine professional is to work with the Olympic teams,” says Rao. “That’s why I got involved with the U.S. water polo team.” Last year, he traveled with the team to Shanghai for the Fina World Championships. As team physician, Rao mainly treats injuries involving overuse of the extremities, typical of the exertion that athletes subject themselves to. There are also the occasional serious injuries—Rao recalls one time in Romania when a water polo player received a head butt so severe “it filleted his mouth.”

“He was so scared,” says the NYIT graduate. Rao treated the player and reassured him that he would be fine. “But that’s how encompassing osteopathic sports medicine is. It’s not just taping ankles. It’s taking care of the mind as well as the body.”

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