The NCAA has announced Dr. Deena Casiero as its new chief medical officer. Casiero is currently the senior associate athletics director for sports medicine and head team physician at UConn.
As chief medical officer, Casiero will serve as the primary liaison to the Association on matters of student-athlete mental and physical health, safety and performance. She also will oversee the operation and management of the Sport Science Institute and work collaboratively with the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports, which is the membership health and safety committee for the NCAA. Casiero will be a member of the senior staff and serve as a direct advisor on health and safety matters to the NCAA president, NCAA leadership and NCAA members.
"I am truly honored and excited to embark on this journey with the NCAA, spearheading the crucial domain of health and safety," Casiero said. "Throughout my career, I've been dedicated to championing athlete well-being at the collegiate level, and now I eagerly anticipate the opportunity to expand and deepen this commitment on a national scale."
Casiero joins the NCAA senior management team after having spent the past nine years at UConn overseeing departments such as athletic training, strength and conditioning, sports nutrition and athlete mental health.
"Deena brings expansive expertise and comprehension of collegiate sports' health and safety, ideal for the role of chief medical officer," NCAA President Charlie Baker said. "Her dedication in leading cross-functional teams will prove invaluable as she champions the well-being of student-athletes within the growing arena of sports medicine."
Before joining the staff at UConn in 2015, she was the head team physician and medical director of Hofstra, served as the tournament physician and director of player medical services for the U.S. Open Tennis Championships and worked as the assistant team physician for the NHL's New York Islanders from 2010-15.
Casiero received her undergraduate degree in athletic training from Springfield College in 1999 and graduated with a medical degree from New York Medical College in 2006. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York, from 2006-2009 and completed her training with a primary care sports medicine fellowship at UConn from 2009-2010.
She has been a member of the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports since 2021 and currently holds the position of vice chair. She is a member of the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine.
Casiero will begin her role Aug. 12. The NCAA named John Parsons interim senior vice president for SSI until Casiero joins full time.
