NATCHEZ &045;&045; His desire to spend more time in sports medicine made Dr. Brian Mudry the perfect fit as a new doctor at the Passman Haimson Orthopedic Sports and Rehab Clinic.

Having practiced in Natchez for more than a year at the Natchez Community Hospital family clinic, Mudry found his busy schedule left little time to make high school sports rounds, hold clinics, and work with area coaches &045;&045; activities he had hoped to make a big part of his work week.

&uot;I jumped at the opportunity to work here,&uot; Mudry said of his new position. &uot;I’ll be doing something I’m trained to do, primary care sports medicine. And when you come into a group with a reputation like theirs, that is also very good for me.&uot;

Mudry and his wife, Janel, a lawyer, had considered leaving Natchez to seek just such an opportunity. &uot;We had considered leaving Natchez. We really like Natchez, but we wanted to make a lifestyle change and take a little of the medical stress out of my life and give me the chance to do something I love to do.&uot;

With a new son, born only a couple of months ago, the urgency to make a change grew stronger. &uot;I wanted to enjoy medicine 100 percent, and I can do that and help out the doctors in this clinic at the same time.&uot;

Orthopedist Dr. Robert Haimson said Mudry will help the clinic to provide more and better care to patients who need it. &uot;I knew of his specialty training. Having Brian will enable us to capture sports medicine business in the area as well as see more people we might not have had time to see.&uot;

Haimson has seen many sports injuries &045;&045; and muscular-skeletal injuries in general &045;&045; needlessly go to physicians in other cities, including ligament reconstruction, rotator cuff repair and cartilage transplantation, for example.

&uot;There is nothing they do in any other city that we don’t do right here,&uot; Haimson said. &uot;When Brian first came, he met all the high school

coaches. We want him to reconnect with all those people. We want to keep the sports medicine business here in Natchez.&uot;

Mudry began in his new position on March 1, joining Haimson and orthopedist Dr. Carl Passman. The clinic also includes a physical therapy department.

A graduate of John Carroll University, a small Jesuit school in Cleveland, Ohio, where he majored in chemistry, Mudry went on to study medicine at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. From there, he went to Western Pennsylvania Hospital, where he studied family practice medicine and was chief resident.

After his residency, Mudry joined the Allegheny General Hospital, where he had been awarded a fellowship in sports medicine.

&uot;Sports medicine is one of those things you do if you love to do it,&uot; Mudry said. &uot;It requires you to be available after hours, and you have to be visible and good at what you do.&uot;

His practice includes no surgery. That will be left to the orthopedists. Mudry’s work will be in muscular-skeletal medicine as well as general primary care. &uot;I love family practice, and I want to continue some of that,&uot; he said.

Sports medicine is a term not everyone understands. &uot;I might see the person who was raking leaves and stumbles, falls and twists an ankle, for example.&uot;

For the clinic, his work will free Passman and Haimson to spend more time in their orthopedics specialties.

&uot;What I’ll do is allow the orthopedists not to be bogged down with some of the other issues, take care of some of the things they don’t need to see. That will be an assistance to them,&uot; Mudry said.