Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine
Primary Care Sports Medicine (PCSM) has been around since its certification in 1992, over 30 years ago, and is one of 9 accredited fellowships available to Emergency Medicine (EM) and there are over 150 programs in the country. Most of those programs accept Emergency Medicine graduates though only a few hold a specific position open for our specialty. Duke University Medical Center has 3 PCSM positions available every year: two for Family Medicine and one for Emergency Medicine. As the number of EM-trained physicians in the subspecialty grows, increasing numbers also hold faculty positions in these fellowships— helping future applicants with mentorship and guidance.
Every PCSM provider has a different role. Most participate in some type of athletic event coverage, which can be anything from grade school to college to professional. The type of patients seen in clinic can vary as well. Here at Duke, we have an Orthopedic Urgent Care which will often see more acute injuries like broken bones. In clinic, we see these patients for follow-up, in addition to surgical evaluation and management of more chronic conditions like osteo- arthritis. In the last decade, the use of ultrasound has increased significantly, allowing providers to complete dynamic testing of muscles and ligaments and inject with more precision. The field is large and expanding; there are areas of interest for every type of inquiring mind: orthobiologics, nutrition, therapy, female athlete health, recovery science, and performance science, and more.
Our EM-trained PCSM fellow this year is Christian Kaschak. He started the first week of July 2024. He completed his undergraduate degree at Pennsylvania State University, where he received a degree in Kinesiology. This was followed by training at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. In June of 2024, he completed his Emergency Medicine residency training at Loyola Medical Center in Chicago, IL. Throughout his career he has shown strong leadership potential and organizational involvement, like his involvement with the Sports Medicine Committee of the Emergency Medicine Residents’ Committee. Since his early career there has been a strong interest in athletics and sports: he was a Division 1 soccer player at Penn State, completed multiple Sports Medicine rotations and educational tracks, and participated in research with the Chicago Wolves AHL ice hockey team. We are excited for him to join our team!