Leroy Sims

Dr. Leroy Sims, MD, MSc, CAQSM, is board-certified in Emergency Medicine and Primary Care Sports Medicine. He is Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs for the National Basketball Association (NBA) and a practicing emergency medicine physician at Mills Peninsula Medical Center in Burlingame, California. At the NBA, Dr. Sims leads medical operations, develops and implements health and safety policies and protocols, investigates medical technologies to optimize the employee and fan experience, conducts medical risk assessments, and delivers innovative strategies and processes to keep the NBA safe and healthy.

Dr. Sims was heavily involved in the creation and execution of the stringent medical protocols the NBA implemented during the restart of its 2020 season at Walt Disney World Resort between July and October 2020. The NBA successfully resumed and completed its season and playoffs, bringing 22 teams and supporting staff to a campus environment in Orlando, with an emphasis on compliance with public health measures of mask wearing, physical distancing, hand hygiene, cleaning and disinfecting. The key components to the campaign included: collaboration with world renowned experts in infectious disease, epidemiology and industrial hygiene; frequent communication with all participants through physical signage, town hall meetings, emails and in-person briefings; and a meticulously designed health and safety protocol that incorporated and integrated technology for tracking compliance with daily testing, symptom screening, physical distancing and contact tracing.

The NBA reported zero positive cases among players for the duration of the season restart and playoffs.

Additionally, Dr. Sims served as a team physician for USA Basketball at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, and team physician for the USA Track and Field team at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was the Medical Director and team physician for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors from 2011-2014.

A graduate of Stanford University with Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Biological Sciences, Dr. Sims received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Stanford University School of Medicine, during which time he was awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellowship. He completed his Emergency Medicine residency at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, CA. He went on to complete a fellowship in Primary Care Sports Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine.