Sports Medicine & Orthopedic Care

Brian Atkinson, MD, CAQSM
Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship Assistant Program Director, Core Faculty

Dr. Brian Atkinson was born and raised in the small beach town of Melbourne Beach, FL. He was a competitive runner throughout high school, earning both track and cross country individual state championships, along with a team cross country state championship while at Melbourne High School. He then attended college at Duke University, where he earned a B.S. in Biology, competed on the Duke University Track and Cross Country teams, and, most importantly, met his wife Kayla. While at Duke, he earned All ACC honors in both Track & Field and Cross Country, and also earned All-America honors in the 10,000m. After completing his undergraduate training, he earned his MD at University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa, FL. He also continued running competitively, and qualified for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. After completing medical school, he returned to the great state of North Carolina for his Family Medicine Residency at MAHEC in Asheville, NC, where he earned the UNC School of Medicine Resident Teacher of the Year award. He subsequently attained his Sports Medicine fellowship at Cone Health Sports Medicine in Greensboro NC.

Brian is passionate about Exercise as Medicine, running medicine, diagnostic ultrasound, and helping his patients to continue to do the exercise they enjoy. He loves teaching medical trainees at all levels. In his free time, Brian enjoys running (especially in trails), hiking, camping, and spending time with his 2-year-old daughter, Andie and his wife, Kayla.

Sunil “Neil” Das, MD
Past Sports Medicine Fellow

MAHEC Family Health Center at Biltmore
123 Hendersonville Road
Asheville, NC 28803

Jessica Knapp, DO, CAQSM
Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship Program Director

MAHEC Family Health Center at Biltmore
123 Hendersonville Road
Asheville, NC 28803

I started my training as an undergrad at Penn State Behrend where I was inducted into the college’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014 for my achievements as a long distance runner which included being named Behrend Female Athlete of the Year twice among other awards (I clearly liked competitive sports).

I went to Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine for my medical training and during that time was a head high-school and middle-school cross country and track coach. I trained in Wilmington, NC for my primary care residency and then completed my sports medicine fellowship at the University of Connecticut. After my fellowship, I worked as core faculty at Tufts Family Medicine Residency and helped teach the physical exam courses at Tufts School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School for several years. During that time I earned the Young investigator’s Research Grant Award and Humanitarian Award from the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine.

My work and research is focused on female athletes and disordered eating, body image issues, the female athlete triad (energy deficiency, menstrual disturbances, and bone loss), the benefits of sports participation for young girls, and group visits to encourage pediatric patients to get moving. My husband and I moved to Asheville from Boston to be closer to friends and family and these beautiful mountains!