Patrick Baki will begin the clinical rotation of a lifetime as he joins the ranks of the Kansas City Chiefs’ medical staff on Monday. A fourth-year student at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, Baki is among 31 students from 19 medical schools selected for the NFL’s 2023 “Diversity in Sports Medicine Pipeline Initiative.”

The program places students interested in sports medicine with NFL teams for a one-month rotation during preseason training camp. The NFL, along with the NFL Physicians Society and the Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society, started the program in 2022.

Originally, it placed 14 medical students from four historically Black colleges and universities on eight NFL teams. This year, it expanded to other medical schools local to NFL clubs. The NFL announced the 2023 selections on July 18.

Baki met with Chiefs head orthopedist J. Paul Schroeppel on Friday about the specifics of his responsibilities during his rotation. He’ll be at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph at least three days a week in August to assist the medical staff at training camp. He’ll do clinical work with the orthopedic surgeons, and he might also help the team’s family medicine doctors.

“Probably the most exciting thing that (Schroeppel is) pushing for is to have me be (on the) sideline for the last preseason game,” Baki said, though that is pending the Chiefs’ approval.

That game will be Saturday, Aug. 26, against the Cleveland Browns.

Read the full story in The Kansas City Star here.