Nationally Renowned Sports Medicine Expert James Voos, MD, Leads Groundbreaking UH Haslam Sports Innovation Center, Paves the Way for New Technologies to Advance Patient Care

Innovations in Research | February 2025

James Voos, MD, a nationally recognized orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine expert, says his specialty requires clinicians to practice with their feet in the grass, readily available to the patients they serve. Proximity to athletes also fuels innovation, key to the continued delivery of state-of-the-art care in a rapidly advancing medical field.

James Voos, MD

“Innovation is integral to keeping up with the demands and growth of our athletes. It’s our obligation to be out in front of this,” says Dr. Voos, Jack and Mary Herrick Distinguished Chair in Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine at University Hospitals, and the Charles H. Herndon Professorship and Chair at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, President of the NFL Physician Society and Head Team Physician for the Cleveland Browns.

As Executive Director of the Haslam Sports Innovation Center, Dr. Voos oversees a fast-growing enterprise that aims to catapult the field of sports medicine to new heights by accelerating the development of new cutting-edge technologies and therapeutic approaches. The Center was established in fall 2023 with a $20 million transformational gift from Cleveland Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam.

A New Vehicle for Sports Medicine Innovation

Built on the core of the UH Drusinsky Family Sports Medicine Institute at Ahuja Medical Center, a state-of-the-art athletic and care facility, the Haslam Sports Innovation Center serves as a catalyst for University Hospitals to further expand world-class care to professional and recreational athletes and improve outcomes for all aspects of orthopaedic services.  

Promising innovations are funded and developed into new technologies and techniques that improve athletes' health and safety. The Center’s “Living Lab” real-life environment allows for rapid prototyping, testing and scaling of innovations. The broad range of technologies being developed and tested includes performance technologies, wearable devices, biologics, and surgical equipment.

For instance, emerging wearable device technologies help prevent injury and monitor patients’ rehabilitation and readiness for return to play. New oxygen sensors are the first internal indicators to measure internal recovery and are being used in the rehabilitation of professional and high school athletes following low-extremity surgeries.

The Haslam Center has a medical advisory board and business advisory board comprised of nationally recognized experts. Dr. Voos and his leadership team work continuously to review businesses and manufacturers with whom to collaborate and partner.  In late 2024, the Center announced its first investments in technologies being developed collaboratively with three Northeast Ohio-based companies.

Among them is a collaboration with Cleveland-based Collamedix Inc. to develop collagen scaffolds for use in ACL and rotator cuff reconstruction. The Center is working with Osteocentric, the designer of UnifiMI, an implant to bone technology, to develop a new implant-to-bone interface. A longstanding partnership with T3 Performance augments the Living Lab and advances the capture of performance data, in addition to continuing the development of age-appropriate training programs for better athletic performance.

Dr. Voos holds industry partnerships with Collamedix and Lazurite’s ArthroFree® System wireless surgical camera, which has U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for endoscopic applications, including arthroscopy. Collaboration between the Center and Lazurite will enable the development of new wireless operating technology for improved surgical ergonomics and visualization.   

“It really is one of the goals of this Center to elevate the profile of University Hospitals,” says Dr. Voos. “This is a way for us to partner with companies and organizations across the country and world. It allows us to spread our name across the country, and as a result, we get to showcase all the great things we are doing in Cleveland.”

The Center currently has partners in California, Florida, and Texas.

Leveraging Clinical and Scientific Expertise to Advance Sports Medicine

Dr. Voos brings vast clinical and research expertise to the Haslam Center. As a surgeon, he specializes in sports-related injuries involving the knee, shoulder and elbow, and performs a high volume of ACL reconstructions including revision and multi-ligament surgeries in addition to shoulder and elbow arthroscopy. His innovative research pursuits include the development of wearable technologies to improve patient recovery and development of stem cell technologies for arthritis treatment.

He developed a return-to-play assessment following ACL reconstruction, using wearable technology. In 2023, Dr. Voos was awarded the NFLPS’s highest research honor, the Arthur C. Rettig Award for Academic Excellence, for his development of a novel muscle oxygen (SmO2) sensor that tracks recovery following ACL reconstruction.

He also led the way for the use of regenerative medicine in orthopaedics, making the UH Drusinsky Sports Medicine Institute one of the few institutions in the country to obtain FDA approval to multiply and grow stem cells for arthritis treatment.

A Sports Medicine Career Rooted in Childhood and Mentorship

Dr. Voos grew up in a small town in western Kansas. His mom was a nurse, and his father ran a community hospital laboratory. He played collegiate football at Drake University, where he also studied biology and health sciences.

He earned his medical degree at the University of Kansas School of Medicine and completed a five-year Orthopaedic Surgery Residency and a six-year Sports Medicine Fellowship at the U.S. News & World Report #1 ranked Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. He gained pro sports experience working as an assistant team physician for the New York Giants and the New York Liberty women’s NBA team. He was the assistant physician for the Kansas City Chiefs and Head Physician for the Kansas City Ballet when he was recruited by University Hospitals in 2014 to lead and develop the UH Drusinksy Sports Medicine Institute, which has since grown exponentially.

Strong mentorship set the tone for his career trajectory. It was during his residency that Dr. Voos came to work with Russell Warren, MD, the head of sports medicine at the Hospital for Special Surgery and team physician for the New York Giants for almost 30 years. Dr. Warren provided life-changing training and mentorship that set him on a successful career path.

Guiding the Next Generation of Sports Medicine Specialists

Having benefitted significantly from mentorship, Dr. Voos says establishing relationships with multiple mentors from whom to seek perspective and support is vital for career advancement. He advises students and trainees to make the most of their learning experiences by actively tapping into the resources they have at their disposal throughout University Hospitals, to prepare for the unexpected opportunities that might arise along their career paths.

Whereas some might feel most comfortable keeping their head down to simply get through tough training and career challenges, Dr. Voos counters, “Keep your head up and go out and meet people, maybe slightly out of your comfort zone.” Such connections build synergies, fuel collaboration, and forge greater opportunities for education, training, and medical advancement, he says.

Throughout his life, Dr. Voos maintains blended professional and personal interests. On weekends, he is often on the sidelines of local sports events across recreational, high school, college and professional levels, something he encourages colleagues to do, too - to stay connected to the local community, address sports medicine needs, and be accessible to patients.

“Our name says sports in front of medicine, so we need to be out there taking care of athletes,” says Dr. Voos.

He is married to Kristin Voos, MD, a neonatologist and former Director of Neonatal Family Centered Care at UH Rainbow Babies and Children's. The couple has three children. In their quality time together, the family enjoys boating, hiking, skiing, and traveling.