Elizabeth Gardner, MD

Dr Gardner is a dual-Board Certified Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Yale University School of Medicine, specializing in the practice of sports medicine surgery and arthroscopy of the knee, shoulder and other joints.

Dr Gardner graduated from Yale University in 2001 with a BA in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. As an undergraduate at Yale, Dr Gardner was a two-sport varsity athlete, playing both field hockey and lacrosse for the Bulldogs. During her career, she garnered recognition as an All-Ivy and Academic All-American player. In her senior year, she was named the sole captain of the Women’s Lacrosse team. It was through these athletic pursuits that Dr Gardner quickly came to appreciate the practice of sports medicine. In fact, she first joined the Yale Orthopaedics family as a surgical patient! She then spent her undergraduate summers shadowing in the clinics and working in the orthopaedic research labs under the tutelage of Dr Peter Jokl.

Following a two-year stint as a field hockey player and coach in England, Dr Gardner returned to the United States to attend Emory University School of Medicine, from which she graduated in 2007. She then came back to Yale School of Medicine to complete her orthopaedic surgery residency. Following her passion for collegiate athletic medicine, she was awarded a fellowship in Sports Medicine and Shoulder Surgery at the University of Michigan. There she had the opportunity to work with the student-athletes at the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University, including their football and lacrosse teams.

Upon completion of her training, Dr Gardner returned to New Haven to join the Yale School of Medicine faculty, as well as working as a staff surgeon at the West Haven Veterans Administration Hospital and the Yale Health Center. She is currently Head Team Physician/Orthopedic Surgeon for Yale University Athletics, including supporting the 2018 National Championship Men's Lacrosse team and the Yale Football team. She has also served as a team physician for the WNBA's Connecticut Sun and former National Lacrosse League's New England Blackwolves. She remains active as a member of alumnae networks for both Yale Field Hockey and Lacrosse. She is also a Fellow of Davenport College, and an undergraduate first year and sophomore year advisor.