Dr Vonda Wright, MD, MS, FAOA is a double boarded Orthopaedic Sports Surgeon, researcher and team doctor focused on optimizing personal and professional performance at every age from the ballfield to the boardroom.
Her comprehensive approach to musculoskeletal wellness harnesses innovative surgical and ortho-biologic techniques across the lifespan. Dr Wright’s award-winning basic science and clinical research has resulted in multiple grants and publications changing the way we view the aging process.
Previously, Dr Wright served as the inaugural Chief of Sports Medicine at the Northside Hospital Orthopedic Institute and the inaugural Medical Director of the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex which is an innovative collaboration between the elite sports medicine of UPMC and the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team. She's the creator and founding director of the performance research initiative for Masters athletes (PRIMA); A one-of-a-kind program for maximizing the performance and minimizing injury in recreational exercisers over 40 and elite Masters athletes alike.
A team physician caring for athletes since 1985, Dr. Wright served as the medical director for Georgia State University and the football and Olympic sports teams at the University of Pittsburgh. She was the physician for the Pittsburgh and Atlanta Ballet theatre's elite artist athletes and led the medical team for more than 400 youth hockey players of the Pens Elite youth development teams. Dr Wright is a match doctor for World Rugby 7 & 10’s and was the medical director of the Pittsburgh triathlon.
Dr. Wright completed a fellowship in sports medicine and upper extremity at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, her residency in Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh earned a medical degree from Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, her master’s degree in oncology nursing from Rush Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago, and her bachelor’s degree in biology from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.