The sports medicine program is under the direction of Danny O’Connor, who was promoted to head trainer last summer when Jayne Ciarlante was named associate director of athletics.

O’Connor is responsible for maintaining the operation of the training room. His duties also include the coordination of medical coverage and the administering of the athletic department’s drug education and testing program. He also is in charge of scheduling appointments with the program’s physician, coordinating preseason physical exams and designing treatment and rehabilitation programs.

O’Connor, who teaches undergraduate athletic training courses at LIU, originally came to downtown Brooklyn as a graduate assistant trainer at LIU from 1994-96, working under former LIU head trainer and current New York Knicks assistant trainer Said Hamdan.

In the summer of 1996, he accepted the position of assistant trainer at Adelphi University. He left Adelphi in December 1997, returning to LIU as assistant trainer.

O’Connor consults regularly with athletic department orthopedic surgeon Dr. Howard Levy, doctor of orthopedic surgery and sports medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Levy and a network of medical staff, mostly from Lenox Hill, work closely with LIU athletes for their surgical and rehabilitative needs.