• Bears soccer player (1968-70) and British weightlifter holding a record that stood for 25 years.
• Served as a physiotherapist, team doctor, and orthopedic surgeon for Bears and Pandas athletes and teams.
• Founded and served as the director of the University of Alberta Glen Sather Sports Medicine Clinic.
• Served as team physician and orthopedic consultant to the Edmonton Oilers and Eskimos, with various Olympic teams, and numerous other sport organizations.
• Actively involved in raising Alberta-bred racehorses; chair and CEO of Horse Racing Alberta.

Dr. David Reid is an outstandingly talented man. Early in life he made his mark as an excellent soccer player and weight lifter, holding a British record that stood for 25 years. On his arrival at the University he won a spot on the Golden Bears Soccer team (1968-1970). From the start, his career was based around the application of his research, scientific and professional knowledge to the care of those individuals traumatized by sports related injuries. This and a passion for teaching, shaped his personal and professional life. A deep and abiding drive served to produce one of Canada’s finest experts in the gowing field of sports medicine, as well as the well-established field of orthopaedic surgery.

Educated in England and Canada, Dr. Reid completed a diploma in Physiotherapy and degrees with distinction in Physiotherapy and Medicine (the latter two from the University of Alberta). In 1978 he was named the Canadian Orthopaedic Association’s North American Travelling Fellow and the following year he received a Fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada and his certification as a specialist in Orthopaedic Surgery. Subsequently he was awarded the Lord Nuffield Scholar in Orthopaedics from Oxford University and, in 1980 the University of Liverpool conferred on him a Master of Surgery degree.

It was his abiding love of sport, however, that kept Dr. Reid linked closely to the world of athletics. From 1964 onward he consistently and generously dedicated a substantial part of his professional life to student athletes who participated in programs at the University of Alberta. He served as a physiotherapist, team doctor, orthopaedic surgeon and consultant to most of the University athletic programs. Significantly, throughout those years Dr. Reid was honing his amazing talents as our University’s first Sports Medicine scholar/practitioner. During the decades of the 1970’s and 1980’s Sports Medicine, as a field of study and practice, was in its infancy. It was in need of medical specialists who had the courage “to risk”. Dr. Reid was just such a person and the rest is history. He was instrumental in establishing the initial degree program in physiotherapy at the U of A. He founded the Canadian Physiotherapy Association’s Sports Therapy Division and, as an early member of the Canadian Academy of Sports Medicine, he served on its Board that initiated its education committee assisting in the establishment of the competency examinations for physicians in Sports Medicine. In 1987 Dr. Reid and University of Alberta colleagues founded the Glen Sather Sports Medicine Clinic and he was named its first and, to date, its only director.

Dr. Reid’s service to athletic teams is legendary. During his career he has been the team physician for most of the Golden Bear and Panda teams. He has carried out duties as team physician for Alberta Winter Games, Alberta’s Youth Soccer team, Team Canada at the 1998 World Hockey Championships, as Chief Physician for the Canada Winter Games (1975) and as Chief of Medical Operations for the 2001 World Championships in Athletics. His extensive knowledge and skills in the treatment of activity related injuries also resulted in high demand for his service as an Orthopaedic Consultant. During his career he has served in this capacity with 11 organizations including the World Cup Wrestling Championships, the World Figure Skating Championships, the World Junior Men’s Basketball Championships (all held in Edmonton) as well as such groups as the Alberta Ballet Company, the Canadian Synchronized Swimming Olympic team, the Edmonton Oilers and the Edmonton Eskimos.

Dr. Reid has made extraordinary contributions to the communities in which he lives and works. He was one of the initiators of the Carnival of Champions which helped to support such organizations as Kids with Cancer, the Burn Unit of the University of Alberta, and STARS Emergency Medical Transport teams. He serves on the Board of the Oilers Community Foundation that focuses on youth, education and wellness. The list extends well beyond these contributions and continues to grow annually.

Never inclined to a quiet life, Dr. Reid, together with his wife, Kaye, and their children are now involved with a family venture – raising Alberta-bred racehorses. He is a longstanding member of the Board of Directors of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. Dr. Reid was co-author of a blueprint to revitalize an agriculturally based industry. He is currently the Chair and CEO of Horse Racing Alberta, which has overseen a renewed growth in the industry. Under Dr. Reid’s guidance Alberta has led the country in breeding programs, marketing, viability of ownership and backstretch programs for its workers including educational upgrades, computer literacy, addiction counseling and chaplaincy, as well as child care initiatives. For his dynamic and astute leadership in revitalizing this industry, Dr. Reid has recently been granted the prestigious Cam Fella Award and the Horse Industry Association of Alberta’s Distinguished Service Award.

Scholar, award winning teacher, author of numerous books, articles and publications, physiotherapist, physician and surgeon, innovator, philanthropist Dr. Reid truly is an outstandingly talented man. His talents have been recognized in the form of 30 plus awards including the American College of Surgeons Prize, the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal and the Alberta Centennial Award as one of Alberta’s 100 Most Outstanding Physicians during the last 100 years. The University of Alberta is proud to call Dr. David C. Reid “one of its own” and to name him to the Sports Wall of Fame.