Sports Medicine Specialist Rivera-Vega Joins UAMS
| LITTLE ROCK —Alexandra M. Rivera-Vega, M.D., has joined the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) as assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation in the UAMS College of Medicine.
Rivera-Vega earned her medical degree from Ponce School of Medicine in Ponce, Puerto Rico. She completed her residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Veterans Affair Caribbean Health Care System in San Juan, Puerto Rico and her fellowship in sports medicine at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine.
She is a member of the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, American College of Sports Medicine and Puerto Rico Association of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. She also is certified in sports medicine.
Rivera-Vega has private practice experience in four rehabilitation centers in Puerto Rico where she led a patient rehabilitation program and worked with both physical and occupational therapists. She also worked at VA Caribbean Healthcare System evaluating musculoskeletal injuries in the veteran population. Her sports coverage experience includes national and international sporting events, such as the XXI Central American and Caribbean Games in 2010 and the 2013 Juvenile Fencing Pan American Games.
She is known for her sports medicine-related research in musculoskeletal injuries in Puerto Rico and her analysis of emergency room services utilization and cost effectiveness in treating chronic pain patients at the VA Caribbean Healthcare System.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,275 students, 890 medical residents and fellows, and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.###