USC doctor joins medical team of U.S. Olympics

Dr. Jeffrey Guy In China, beginning August 8, Columbia can claim one of its own as a member of the medical team for U.S. Olympic athletes.

Dr. Jeffrey Guy, an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at the USC Sports Medicine Center, has been invited to help out in Beijing this summer. Dr Guy will wait until just before the Games begin to leave for China and will provide support for the individual team doctors in each sport.

Jeffrey Guy was born in Pasadena, California and spent his teen years in the laid back state. He attended San Diego State and played on the baseball team with future major leaguers Tony Gwynn and Mark Grace.

Guy attended Harvard Medical School and graduated magna cum laude. His residency was also in Boston at Harvard University School of Medicine. He got the opportunity to move to Birmingham and work with legendary sports surgeon Dr. James Andrews for a couple of years.

Dr. Andrews is perhaps the best known sports doctor in the U.S. and revolutionized treatment for professional athletes. He is best known for developing a way to replace damaged tendons in a pitcher's throwing arm with tendons from the other arm. This procedure has long been referred to as Tommy John surgery, named after the first pitcher to have the procedure and return to major league baseball.

Dr. Jeffrey Guy (r) walks off the field with injured USC player during last football season. Dr. Guy learned a lot about sports medicine, southern sports in general, and football in particular while in Alabama. He was assistant team physician for both Alabama and Auburn and witnessed firsthand the passion that is SEC football on a fall Saturday.

At the turn of the century, University of South Carolina School of Medicine began developing an in- house sports medicine department with state of the art facilities capable of caring for athletes at all levels including USC Gamecocks.

Dr. Andrews was consulted and Dr. Jeffrey Guy was hired by Angus McBryde as one of the founding surgeons for the USC Sports Medicine Center. The Center currently supports USC, SC State, Benedict College, the Columbia City Ballet, and several high school programs around the Midlands.

Dr. Guy is currently the medical director and team physician for USC and Columbia City Ballet, as well as the founder of Sports Medicine for Athletes And Recreational Teams, or SMART. He helps conduct Black and Blue clinics for high school athletes on Saturday mornings.

Although Dr. Guy is an essential part of Gamecock football and the Midlands sports scene, he received overwhelming support to attend the Olympic Games.