Jorge Bernardez
Dr. Jorge Bernardez wears many hats. He is a staff physician at the University Park Health Center, a team physician for USC Athletics and a professor of third- and fourth-year medical students at the Keck School of Medicine.
"Acute medical conditions, asthma, rashes, chest pains, you name it. I'm there to take care of that," says Bernardez. Dr. Bernardez was one of the first physicians from the health center to make the bridge to athletics.
"He started out with the basketball program," explains Dr. William Leavitt, lead physician at the University Park Health Center. "He went to a practice and asked if they needed a non-orthopedic physician. Now, he's become the doctor that the athletes preferentially seek out."
Bernardez is also crucial in determining the eligibility of USC athletes by performing physicals on football and basketball players, among other USC athletes, and informing the USC Athletic Department whether students are ready and able to play.
Bernardez says that his job goes beyond ensuring students' physical well-being. "There are also social concerns with my job," Bernardez explains. "I deal with the psychosocial needs of the students as well."
In light of the many pressures facing college student-athletes, Bernardez pioneered a sexual awareness program he teaches to incoming freshman athletes. "I teach sexual awareness classes to the athletes and talk about sex, alcohol and drugs to the incoming freshmen," Bernardez adds. "I keep pretty busy here."
Bernardez, who received his medical degree from the Charles Drew UCLA Medical Education Program in 1987 and completed his residency at the King-Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles, first joined the Trojan Family in 1996 and got involved with athletics shortly thereafter.
Leavitt says Bernardez is more than just a doctor to his students. "His door is always open and there is always someone in there," Leavitt says. "He is a very valuable asset to the student health center."
Says Bernandez, "The appreciation that I see from the students that I treat is wonderful. That is what keeps me going every day."