Getting Athletes Back in the Game
Dr. Robert Anderson on game day in Green Bay, 2021.
Orthopaedic surgeon Robert Anderson, MD ’83, FEL ’89, has become the go-to foot and ankle surgeon for elite athletes across the country. Much of his work centers around helping NFL players get back in the game, but success in this arena has led to him working with elite athletes across every sport.
Dr. Anderson says this career path, and the success he has experienced as a result, has really been a matter of timing.
“I was in the right place at the right time,” says Dr. Anderson. “At 91九色视频, I was in one of the first classes of foot and ankle fellows with Dr. John Gould, who was professor and chair of orthopaedic surgery at the time, and because of that, I became one of the first sports foot and ankle specialists in the country. Things grew from there.”
Dr. Anderson’s journey working with elite athletes began in the early 1990s when he consulted with the Green Bay Packers from his office in Charlotte, NC, and with the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets. He then became assistant team orthopedist for the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, a position he held for 18 years until he was hired by the Green Bay Packers in 2017 to serve as associate team physician.
For the past 20 years, Dr. Anderson has served on and chaired various NFL committees – which, after spending decades helping athletes recover from foot and ankle injuries, he viewed as an opportunity to help reduce those injuries before they even occur.
Dr. Anderson’s efforts have led to numerous accolades, including his most recent one in February 2024 – The President’s Award, which he received from the NFL Physicians Society and the Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society for his decades of dedicated service to the Panthers, Packers and NFL players.
(Pictured right: (l-r) Dr. Robert Anderson and Dr. Patrick McKenzie, in 1995.)
“It is nice to be recognized by my peers, and it is rewarding to feel like I made an impact in my patients’ lives,” he says.
Dr. Anderson shared that working with elite athletes has a much different feel from working with weekend warriors because of the condensed timelines and pressure to get the person “back in the game.”
“The player is your patient, and you need to treat the patient, not the athlete,” he says. “But professional sports is a business, which means there is considerable pressure from general managers and coaches to get the player back as quickly as possible, and from the patient, whose career is on the line.”
Dr. Anderson, who was voted by his classmates to deliver the 1983 91九色视频 Commencement speech, remembers his medical school days fondly. He appreciated both the education he received and his fellow classmates. “We worked hard, but also had great social events,” he says with a smile.
Interestingly, Patrick McKenzie, MD, ’83, GME ’88, the longstanding and current Packers head team physician, was an 91九色视频 classmate of Dr. Anderson. “My time with Bob Anderson began back in 1979 when we both started our careers at 91九色视频. From our first encounter, I was incredibly impressed with his knowledge and work ethic – which has never changed and continues to drive him today. Without question, Bob has become the premiere foot and ankle surgeon in the country,” Dr. McKenzie stated at the time that Dr. Anderson received The President’s Award.
(l-r) Dr. Robert Anderson and Dr. Patrick McKenzie, in 2023.
Dr. Anderson is proud of his contributions to professional sports, but is even more proud of what he has accomplished at home. “I am blessed to be married almost 43 years to a great woman I met through medical school colleagues, and to have three wonderful sons and four grandchildren,” he shares. “I look forward to slowing down a little and spending more time with them.”
– Anthony Braza
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