Most of us can imagine the hectic lifestyle that comes along with being a doctor just from some of the handful of major medical TV shows: Long nights. Always on call and basketball? Well, move over Shonda Rhimes…this is no “Grey’s Anatomy!” After speaking with a Lake Nona resident who has the same career as some characters from your guilty pleasure medical TV series, we learned that, although a frenetic career, it’s more than just a job and it’s worth every moment…and penny.
William Felix, MD with Florida Hospital Medical Group, began his medical career in Puerto Rico. From there, he began his residency in Camden, NJ and set his sights on the emergency room. The high-paced intensity piqued his interest. Dr. Felix eventually made his way to Kansas for a year or two and then finally landed at Duke to complete his fellowship in Primary Care-Sports Medicine, which he calls “a dream come true.”
“Ever since, I haven’t looked back. I mean, I like [the] ER, I’m just passionate about sports medicine. It comes down to quality of life, not so much money, but quality of life. Knowing that I wanted to be a father and a husband, present in the life of my family, I knew that in the ER I may not, I was not going to be able to do that, at least as much as I wanted to.”
Growing up, Dr. Felix played sports and attributes that as a source of inspiration to make the switch from the ER to Sports Medicine.
“All the injuries I had, yes,” he said jokingly. “Yes, that’s how I came to like bones and tendons, but there’s much more in the world of sports medicine than just orthopedics. This is what I love about this community. It’s how they embrace staying active/healthy as part of a lifestyle. It’s not just a trend, it’s a lifestyle. How sports medicine tells more than just the bone and tendons; it tells health, performance. … It tells a whole new world of exercise physiology. It tells those disciplines integrated into one major denominator, which is the world of Sports Medicine, and that’s what I’m passionate about.”
Dr. Felix is one out of about 140 board-certified doctors who specialize in both Emergency and Sports Medicine. “It feels a bit weird…we are very few and that, I think, puts a little bit more pressure, because all eyes are [on] what’s different, right? The norm is usually Family Medicine, Sports Medicine… .”
The doctor goes on to say how each of the two forms of medicine coincide. “I think Emergency Medicine and Sports Medicine bring a perfect combination, a perfect merge…dealing with the acuity of an injury, but at the same time having that extra knowledge in the musculoskeletal world, which Sports Medicine conveys, is greatly appreciated, especially in the sports industry.”
Dr. Felix is an independent contractor for the NBA. He became involved with the basketball association once the NBA’s Chief Medical Officer Jace Provo reached out to him to be his clinical consultant. Dr. Felix is uniquely qualified to provide medical services in the ER and courtside. That skillset brought him to the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics, to name just two amazing opportunities.
“The whole scheme of how this works is pretty amazing! My responsibility is to look for hospital systems that deliver the same quality of care that we expect in the States, make connections with those hospitals, with the staff, that we can agree to some exclusivity during the events if something happens, not only to the athletes, but to the NBA staff and VIPs. To make it as anonymous as possible. That’s very important when it comes to the world of sports, professional sports.”
From the last week of July into the first week of August of this year, Dr. Felix covered the NBA/FIBA Africa Basketball Without Borders (BWB) event in Johannesburg, South Africa. BWB is the NBA and FIBA’s global community outreach and basketball development program. The program’s purpose is not only to promote basketball but also to encourage positive social change in wellness, health and education. BWB was founded in 2001 and has since hosted 45 camps in 26 cities in 22 countries on five continents.
In Johannesburg, Dr. Felix worked with Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks and DeMarcus Cousins of the New Orleans Pelicans, as well as Team Africa. The event had about 100 players, and Dr. Felix was one of three doctors on the trip. The game was open to the public and had about 27,000 attendees. His favorite part of the 10-day trip? Talking to the local people and discovering the hidden gems wherever he might be.
“That’s when you truly get the experience that you’ve been somewhere outside of the comfort zone that’s called home. You talk to the people. I always get a local driver, and I love to talk to my driver because they give you insight on the history: cultural, political, historically how things happened, especially a place like South Africa. The biggest highlight was not the game. The biggest highlight was this.” Dr. Felix proceeds to pull out his phone to display a picture of him standing next to a South African woman who shared her story with him and another picture of the local children who begged him to take a picture because they were fascinated with his iPhone.
“You get to know one [person] and you get to know their background and you get to know what they have to tell you about their history, about their culture, about their life experiences, their day-to-day…man, that’s so enriching! That, for me, I’m still in awe. The stories they have to tell…that’s the part that I love the most!”
Thinking about the expansion of Medical City here in Lake Nona and the upcoming Sports District, Dr. Felix appeared to grow with excitement. “Wow, how do I see that? This is the perfect niche for me. I’m part of the community. I embrace the community. I think this community is, in a good way, desperate to get an identity, and I think anything local, I think we’re starting to develop an identity of being Lake Nonians. This community has been very, very supportive of all my efforts, so I see that as an opportunity to just continue to increase our line of services, what I can offer to the community and the good things the community can benefit from us.”
Dr. Felix offers pretty passionate and straightforward advice to those looking to follow in his footsteps. “Oh, do it! Do it! If I traveled back in time, what would I do differently? Probably nothing. In life, I’ve seen great things. I can die today and say, ‘Man, I’ve had a pretty cool life!’ Not only NBA, but the satisfaction that I’ve had from Emergency Medicine: the opportunity to save lives. Sports Medicine: the opportunity to be involved in these camps, Basketball Without Borders. When we have the future of our sports pretty much developing, and they are…you can see, ‘Man, that guy is going to be great! That kid is going to be the next star!’ And somehow you were a part of that because you provided care for their needs when they needed it.”
He says the NBA is more than just a game and that he’s grateful for the things he’s been able to see through the eyes of the NBA. Dr. Felix mentions that he thinks he’s a better person because of that: to get exposed, to see and to learn.
From all of his experiences brought on by traveling, Dr. Felix takes note that sports are indeed universal. “Something that is amazing about sports is that there are no languages when it comes to sports. There is no ideology that comes with sports. If you’re a fan of the game and a fan of the sport, it doesn’t matter if you’re purple or you’re white, it doesn’t matter if you’re red. It doesn’t matter if you’re Asian or African. You find a common pattern. A common fire, regardless of ethnicity, regardless of everything…that’s sports. That’s the beauty of sports. It doesn’t have a language, doesn’t have an ideology. As long as you love, you’re passionate about the game, that’s what counts. That’s enough. That’s plenty. You don’t need anything more.”
