The Pittsburg Penguins have named Christopher Harner the team’s head physician, the team announced.
According to the release on the Penguins website, Dr. Harner is one of the founders of the UPMC Center for Sports Medicine and he will be joined by Dr. Tanya Hagen (associate team physician) and Dr. Dharmesh Vyas (assistant team physician) as the lead team overseeing the Penguins’ medical care. One of those three doctors will travel to all of the Penguins road games, in addition to the traditional coverage provided at home games.
The move according to the team comes as part of an overall restructuring of the Penguins’ medical program — a transition spurred by the recent announcement of the new UPMC performance training center and practice rink in Cranberry (scheduled to open in 2014).
Under the new structure, Penguins players will also have access to top UPMC doctors in more than 15 specialties, the team says.
Mr Harner will replace Dr. Charles Burke who has spent the past 24 years with the team. Burke told the Tribune-Review that he was fired on July 10th.