AMSSM provides a forum to foster professional relationships among sports medicine physicians to advance the discipline of sports medicine through education, research, advocacy and excellence in patient care.

 

AMSSM is committed to the following values:

• Service
• Honesty, Integrity and Respect
• Quality and Excellence
• Communication, Collaboration and Teamwork
• Read the Values Statement

 

AMSSM will be a worldwide leader in sports medicine.

 

• Education - Serve as the premier educational resource for sports medicine physicians
• Research - Advance sports medicine research and scholarship through funding support, collaboration and partnerships
• Advocacy - Uphold and promote priority issues in sports medicine affecting members, patients, and their communities
• Patient Care - Foster excellence in the care and safety of sports medicine patients
• Communications - Exchange information with members and the public effectively
• Infrastructure - Optimize resources to support the AMSSM mission, goals and objectives
• Collaboration - Develop and utilize mutual relationships to enhance the AMSSM mission, goals and objectives

In 1991, five family physicians with strong self-learned sports medicine training and experience, Drs. David Hough, John Lombardo, Doug McKeag, Jim Puffer and Lee Rice, sought to find a medical organization that would represent themselves and other like-minded physicians. After exploring options to integrate with other national organizations, it became clear the best option was to start a new specialized organization that would adequately represent and support their sports medicine interests. They each invested $7,000 of their personal savings into a seed fund for this new organization. The 20 Founders of AMSSM included:

1. Randall Eichner, MD, Internal Medicine
2. Elizabeth Gallup, MD, JD, Family Medicine (Deceased)
3. Brian Halpern, MD, Family Medicine
4. Jack Harvey, MD, Pediatrics
5. John Henderson, DO, Family Medicine
6. Stan Herring, MD, Physical Medicine and Rehab
7. David Hough, MD, Family Medicine (Deceased)
8. Robert Johnson, MD, Family Medicine
9. Greg Landry, MD, Pediatrics
10. John Lombardo, MD, Family Medicine
11. Doug McKeag, MD, Family Medicine
12. Larry McLain, MD, Pediatrics (Deceased)
13. Robert Murphy, MD, Internal Medicine (Deceased)
14. James Puffer, MD, Family Medicine
15. Lee Rice, DO, Family Medicine
16. Douglas Shaw, MD, Emergency Medicine
17. Deborah Squire, MD, Pediatrics
18. Mitch Storey, DO, Family Medicine
19. Richard Strauss, MD, Internal and Preventive Medicine (Deceased)
20. Jeffrey Tanji, MD, Family Medicine

AMSSM's 1st Annual Meeting was held in San Diego in July 1992, with Brian Halpern, MD as the guarantor, which held him personally responsible if the meeting failed monetarily. The rest of the Founders all verbally agreed to help cover any losses. However, this first meeting was a success! The approximately 120 physicians who attended, all trained in primary care specialties, had finally found an organization which supported their beliefs that they had a central role in providing high quality sports medicine care. By the 20th Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2011, over 1,000 physicians attended the conference, and the AMSSM membership had more than 2,000 members. Thanks to the early vision and strong commitment of the dedicated Founders, AMSSM has become a strong, vital, multi-disciplinary organization of physicians.