LYNNE JETER

Orthopedic Surgeon, Mississippi Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center

Jay O'Mara, MD, makes the Energizer bunny appear lazy.

When football season starts, O'Mara, a board-certified orthopaedic surgeon at Mississippi Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center in Jackson, will be on the sidelines of a game most Thursday nights, every Friday night and most Saturdays, clocking 16-hour days. That's in addition to rising every weekday before six o'clock so he can hit the gym before seeing patients. It's also in addition to Saturday morning clinics the sports center hosts every fall, plus traveling around the country as a sought-after lower extremity rotation instructor.

"True, being on the sidelines is the best seat in the house, but it takes away from your family," said O'Mara, the father of four—Will, 14, Ashley, 12, Megan, 10, and Andrew, 8—with his wife, Shawn. "My greatest challenge is trying to balance responsibilities with the practice while also finding time to spend with family. I don't know that I've conquered that challenge, but I try every day. Fortunately, my children have the same interests, so that makes it fun. They like to hunt and fish—daughters, too—and water ski."

O'Mara was born and raised in Jackson, the older of two children born to Jimmy, a well-known attorney, and Jeanette. He initially became interested in medicine via his uncle, Charles O'Mara, a cardiovascular surgeon at Baptist Medical Center. But when he tore up his knee playing offensive tackle at Jackson Prep during his senior year in 1984, Jimmy Manning, MD, an orthopaedic surgeon and co-founder of Mississippi Sports Medicine, performed surgery on him. "That's what sparked my interest in orthopaedic surgery," he said.

O'Mara's wife, Shawn, also graduated at the same time from Jackson Prep. Both traveled to Dallas, Texas, to study at Southern Methodist University, where he attended via scholarships—Presidential, National Merit, Phi Delta Theta, and Pollard Simons—and earned a biology degree. Unfortunately, the sports fan didn't have a home football team to cheer on during his final two years there. That was when SMU was under the death penalty.

"That wasn't good," he said. After a pause, he added, "We'd travel to Austin to see football games, so it wasn't all bad."

O'Mara headed to the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, excelling in the school's strong orthopaedic program, "which further pushed me to orthopaedics," he noted, and earning a medical degree in 1993. He relocated to Washington, DC, where Shawn was working, and completed his professional training in orthopaedic surgery at Georgetown University in 1998. Then he hit the jackpot of sorts with a one-year fellowship in sports medicine and knee surgery at the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham, Ala., under the tutelage of internationally renowned orthopaedic surgeon James Andrews, MD.

"That guy," said O'Mara, "is every bit as great as they say he is."

O'Mara covered football games and spent time in the OR with Andrews, though he missed the operations on NFL quarterbacks Brett Favre and Drew Brees. Andrews had watched Brees in the Denver-San Diego game on New Year's Eve 2005, and winced along with the crowd when football players pounced on Brees' exposed right shoulder on the goal line following a fumble. After viewing Brees' shredded shoulder on a monitor, Andrews commented in a thick Louisiana drawl to assisting surgeons, "Oh, my goodness ... how are we goin' to fix all this?" Following the operation, Andrews told Tom Condon, Brees' agent, "I did it about as well as it can be done," to which Condon, who has known Andrews through waves of professional athletes, quipped: "That's the only time I've ever heard Doc come close to bragging."

O'Mara chuckled upon hearing the story. "What struck me wasn't his surgical skills, which are bar none, but the way he interacted with patients," he said. "You'd think somebody as well known as he is would be in and out of the room, not having long discussions. But that guy sits down and talks to people. His personality is right up there with the best of them."

Last spring, Andrews surprised young doctors in the fellowship program at Mississippi Sports Medicine by spending a day with them, leading a lab, and regaling the fellows and staff physicians with dinner tales before heading back to Alabama.

Six weeks before football season kicks off, the schedule moves to a brisker pace as O'Mara makes the rounds at high schools and colleges for pre-participation physicals. "August stays pretty busy," he said. "I'll be at Delta State a bunch, I can tell you."

His professional calendar stays packed year-round with obligations to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, American Medical Association, Mississippi State Medical Association, Southern Medical Association, Southern Orthopaedic Society, and as a board member for the Mississippi Orthopaedic Society.

And, oh yes, he squeezes in a late July weekend teaching a hip arthroscopy course at the Orthopedic Learning Center in Chicago.

Knowing that time off will be rare during the final third of the year, O'Mara carves time for occasional rounds of golf and special hunts for "the big game," such as participating in a hunting safari in Africa in 2008, and a hunt in New Zealand earlier this year. For the latter, "I got some good animals and was able to see the countryside," he said. "It was a good hunt."

Before football season ends in 2010, O'Mara is hopeful for another championship ring, alongside those from Tuskegee University, Jackson State University, Ridgeland High School, and Delta State University, including the NCAA Division II National Championship ring from 2000. "Usually, the teams are kind enough to give one to the team doctor," he said. "I'm up to eight now. Maybe I'll even get two more this year."