Speaker Profile
Mary Vacala

Mary Vacala PA-C, ATC, MSPAS, DFAAPA

Sports Medicine
Savannah, Georgia, United States of America

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Practicing as a Physician Assistant in orthopedics sports medicine for 28 years, Mary Vacala resides in Savannah GA. She served as one of 3 medical coordinators and an athletic trainer in the Atlanta Olympic games in 1996. Mary has worked with the USA Olympic Committee since 1993. She was selected to the USA medical Team in 2000 and 2004 where she covered the Paralympic games in Sydney Australia and Athens Greece. In 2012, Mary was selected to work with the USA Men’s wheelchair basketball team. She has been a member of their gold medal Americas cup team, their Silver Medal World Championship team, and the 2016 Paralympics in Rio Brazil.

Mary has coordinated and designed several athletic training and sports medicine programs, and continues to serve as a mentor for several curriculum programs. She designed and served as department chair/program director of a Physician assistant program and continues to mentor student interns and shadowing students. Mary has a passion for the physically challenged patient and has co-authored a chapter on the Care of the Physically Challenged Patient in the book “Physician Assistant: A Guide to Clinical Practice”. She has numerous honors and her most recent includes The Hu. C and Avanelle Myers Award (awarded annually to an Alderson Broaddus College graduate).
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