Harvard Medical embraces NBA sports science

Artificial intelligence is coming to your hip

BY HENRY ABBOTT

Part 4 of TrueHoop’s series on preventing NBA injuries.

• Part 1: How your body is like a hydraulic press. 

• Part 2: What you can learn from wrecking your bike.

• Part 3: When professional sports meets science.

Dressing up doesn’t come naturally to Marcus Elliott, M.D. In his hometown of Santa Barbara, he’s no lock to wear shoes; sometimes he’s barefoot even at the high-tech gym where he works. But for the Augustus Thorndike Grand Rounds orthopedic lecture series at Boston’s Massachusetts General—arguably the most prestigious hospital in the nation—Elliott’s tweed jacket and tie were straight Ivy League. That was one sign that he had been preparing for this honor for months, or in many ways, decades.

Of course if you get the chance, you go to Harvard Medical School, as Elliott did. But there is at least one subtle downside: Institutions steeped in tradition are… steeped in tradition. And Elliott wanted to do something that the nation’s finest doctors didn’t value much a couple of…