Last Friday, Dr. Pat Connor sat in his office at OrthoCarolina and pondered his trip to the Super Bowl. He had already been through a busy week, starting with surgery on Carolina Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis on Monday morning to insert a plate to protect a broken forearm.
Connor spent the week seeing patients, handling an increased workload to make up for being out of the office this week. He has a good reason for missing work: Connor is the head team physician for the Panthers, meaning he accompanies the team to all home and away games and monitors players’ health on a regular basis. So, Santa Clara is a business trip, not a vacation.
This marks Connor’s 19th season with the Panthers. An orthopedic surgeon, Connor started as an assistant team doctor and, several years later, became the lead physician. He specializes in shoulder and elbow surgery. That means he not only treats players, he also coordinates with other doctors on health matters beyond his specialty: neurology, vision and so on.
Your first clue about how Connor spends his weekends can be found on his white lab coat, which includes several pins bearing the NFL shield logo.
During the season, Connor begins his week on Monday morning at Bank of America Stadium, where he has an office. With the team trainer, Ryan Vermillion, he meets with players to assess their condition from the game. After checking on injuries, Connor and Vermillion conduct X-rays, request MRIs as needed, develop treatment plans and then meet with head coach Ron Rivera and general manager Dave Gettleman to alert them on who could be limited or out for the following week.
From there, Connor tends to his practice at OrthoCarolina while remaining on-call to the Panthers as the need arises. For road games, Connor travels on the team charter on Saturday and returns after the game on Sunday. Home game days start early Sunday with Connor at the stadium to check on players. During games, he’s on the sidelines with the team, though he sees less of the game than you might expect since he often is helping a player assess the severity of an injury or watching to see whether a player is able to go back on the field.
By Erik Spanberg of the Charlotte Business Journal
