Board of Directors

MICHAEL T. FREEHILL, M.D.

Michael T. Freehill is an Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery in Shoulder Surgery and Sports Medicine at Stanford University. His clinical practice includes all disorders of the shoulder including; rotator cuff and shoulder instability, shoulder arthritis, and complex shoulder pathology. He additionally is passionate about all throwing-related elbow and shoulder injuries. His research interests include clinical outcomes and biomechanics of overhead throwers, as well as management of glenohumeral arthritis and clinical and radiologic outcomes. Dr. Freehill is extremely active in digital planning for all shoulder arthroplasty procedures and avenues in which this technology can change the landscape of these procedures. He has been awarded an R21 investigating stromal vascular fractionated mesenchymal cells and their potential for healing rotator cuff tendon tears.

Dr. Freehill graduated Magna Cum Laude from University of San Diego with a Bachelor’s Degree in chemistry, where he also played college baseball. After graduation, he was drafted as a pitcher by the California Angels, played 7 years of professional baseball with two years on the Major League 40-Man Roster. Following a thermal capsulorrhaphy shoulder surgery, he signed with the Texas Ranger and again reached the Triple A level. Following his professional baseball career, Dr. Freehill pursued his medical doctorate at Tulane University School of Medicine. During his orthopaedic residency at Johns Hopkins University, he was honored with the Orthopaedic Residency Research Award. He then went on to pursue fellowships in both Sports Medicine from Stanford University and Shoulder and Elbow Surgery from Harvard University. He spent 4 ½ years at Wake Forest University, where he was named Director of Sports Medicine, head team physician and was instrumental in initiating the building of the Wake Forest Pitching Lab, before joining the University of Michigan as an Associate Professor where he spent three years and was a team physician for University of Michigan Athletics, head team physician for Eastern Michigan University baseball, and a team physician for the Detroit Tigers.

Dr. Freehill has been funded by Major League Baseball to study pitch counts and intensities in youth baseball players. Dr. Freehill has been elected for two prestigious traveling fellowships; the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine to the Pacific rim- Asia and the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons to Europe, and is a Neer Award winning author. Dr. Freehill is the Executive Director of the Stanford Baseball Science Core. He serves as a team physician for Stanford Athletics and head team physician for Stanford baseball. Additionally, he is a team physician for the Oakland A’s Major League Baseball Team. He was formerly on the Medical Publishing Board of Trustees for the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine. He is a member of the Major League Baseball Team Physician Association, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, and American Orthopaedic Association. He is additionally a member and serves on committees for the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, American Shoulder and Elbow Society, American Arthroscopy Association of North America, and the International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery & Orthopaedic Sports Medicine.