John F. Sarwark earned his medical degree from Northwestern University Medical School (now Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine) and is an alumnus member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. He completed his residency in Orthopaedic Surgery at Northwestern University Affiliated Hospitals and completed training as a clinical fellow in pediatric orthopaedic surgery at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, Delaware. He is a recognized leader in the evaluation, management, and research of scoliosis in children and in medical education.
Dr.Sarwark is active in numerous leadership activities and committees at Lurie Children's Hospital and NUFSM, including Research Strategic Planning LC; the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Feinberg School of Medicine and its Education and Residency Selection Committee, past Medical Faculty Senate Council Member and National Alumni Board Member. He is past President, Nathan Smith Davis (Alumni) Club of NUFSM. Dr. Sarwark is past Medical Director of the Motion Analysis Center at Children's Memorial Hospital. In 2004, he received the Pathways Awareness Foundation's first Pioneer Award for his work in the early detection of mobility problems in infants. In 2014, Dr. Sarwark received the prestigious Arnold Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP); the Foundation Award 'honors a medical school faculty physician who exemplifies the qualities of a caring and compassionate mentor in the teaching and advising of medical students to emphasize, reinforce and enhance the importance of humanistic qualities among medical students and faculty.' Dr. Sarwark received the Distinguished Service Award, AAP Section on Orthopaedics, in 2015.
Dr. Sarwark has served two terms as Chairman, Executive Committee/Section of Orthopaedics of the AAP as well as the Surgical Advisory Panel of the AAP. He served two terms on the AAP National Conference and Exhibition and Planning Group; he is a member of the Section on Sports Medicine and Fitness (SOSMF) of the AAP. Dr. Sarwark is an active member of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA), on which he has twice served as a member of its Board of Directors and as Ex Officio member. He has served as Chair of POSNA's Liaison Committee with OKO of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). Dr. Sarwark has chaired and contributes to numerous specialty society meetings and courses. He has served as a faculty member of the AAOS Basic Course for Orthopaedic Educators for 25 years. He has chaired the AAOS Committee on Patient Education and has served as a member of its Steering Committee on Collaboration Among Providers Involved with Musculoskeletal Care, among others. Dr. Sarwark is active in the Scoliosis Research Society and has served on its Education Committee, chaired the Fellowship Committee, Co-Chaired the Committee on Non-operative Management and is a past member of the SRS Worldwide Course Committee. He is a member of the American Orthopaedic Association, 20th Century Orthopaedic Association, American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine, Society for Research into Hydrocephalus and Spina Bifida, and the American Society of Biomechanics, among others. Dr. Sarwark is recognized around the world as a surgeon leader and educator in his field. Dr. Sarwark has also mentored numerous fellows, residents, and students in the various facets of medical education and surgical training.
Cynthia LaBella, MD, is the Medical Director of the Institute for Sports Medicine at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
After earning her medical degree from Cornell University Medical College in New York and finishing a residency in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Dr. LaBella completed a sports medicine fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is board certified in both Pediatrics and Sports Medicine, and joined Lurie Children’s in 2004 to develop a comprehensive program in pediatric sports medicine, encompassing clinical care, research, and community outreach.
Dr. LaBella has served as team physician for youth, high school, college, elite, and professional teams. She is currently the head team physician for the USA Rhythmic Gymnastics National Team, De La Salle High School, and North Side Youth Football League in Chicago.
Dr. LaBella is past chairperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness (COSMF) from 2014 to 2019, and prior to this she served for 7 years on the COSMF executive committee as its policy coordinator. In 2020, she was selected to serve on the President’s Council for Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition Science Board. Dr. LaBella is an active member of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), where she has contributed as a co-author on several team physician consensus statements. In 2020, she was elected to the Board of Directors for the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine after serving on its research committee for many years. Dr. LaBella is also on the sports medicine advisory committees for the Illinois High School Association, US Soccer, and Pop Warner Football.
Her research efforts focus on identification of risk factors for injury in youth sports and development of strategies for prevention. She won two awards for her 2006 research demonstrating that a coach-led neuromuscular warm-up reduces knee and ankle injuries in girls’ soccer and basketball at Chicago Public High Schools. This study was published in the November 2011 issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. She also co-authored a 2015 study published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine which was the first to show that sports specialization is an independent risk factor for injury in children and adolescents. Her collaborative research with Northwestern University’s Department of Neuroscience has led to development of a novel auditory test that can help identify concussions and monitor recovery. Since the initial publication of this research in Nature’s Scientific Reports in 2016, Dr. LaBella and her collaborators have received a large grant from the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment for a longitudinal study of this auditory test in the clinical setting.
