Few profs do a better job than Doug Richards at disproving the old line “those who can’t do, teach.” A doctor specializing in sports medicine, Richards’s patients have included the Toronto Raptors and other national teams. But he is also a distinguished researcher, a much-loved lecturer, and the medical director of U of T’s David L. MacIntosh Sport Medicine Clinic. And he’s good at it.
Nominated by his students for TVO’s Best Lecturer award, Richards is “extremely competent—it’s always impressive having him as a lecturer,” says Marko Balan, a student of his. “He does a good job of presenting topics from different perspectives, so students can understand them, using different methods of explaining.”
In one class, Richards jumped up on a table and dropped his pants, revealing biking tights. He then proceeded to chalk out a diagram, on the tights.
“I’m pretty informal,” Richards said. “I don’t stand still behind a podium, that’s for sure.”
One of Richards’ greatest strengths is his ability to contextualize concepts, which is helped by his incredible range of knowledge and interests. He went to medical school in 1975 for neurosurgeory, but discovered that it wasn’t physical enough for him.
“I was a bit of an oddball, in terms of my interests, because although I was interested in biological sciences I was very physical in my nature. Aptitude tests in high school always said I should be an engineer,” said Richards. After he finished medical school, he went back to study math and computer science. It was while he was working at U of T Health Services that he treated Varsity Blues athletes, and became interested in sports medicine. He said it appealed to his “suppressed engineer,” because it’s “very physical, three-dimensional, spatial stuff.”
Now Richards is considered one of the grandfathers of the discipline. He’s been a team doctor to the Varsity Blues since 1984, and to multiple Canadian teams since 1987.
Richards said his greatest challenges are “some of the subjects I teach, which in and of themselves can seem somewhat esoteric and specialized, like who cares, whatever.” This is where his broad background comes in handy. “Because I’ve studied math, and physical sciences, and biological sciences, and I’m in sports, I can take something like elasticity and viscosity—which sounds boring, and it is, unless you’re an engineer, but it’s relevant to how people behave when they stretch.”
Richards genuinely loves teaching, and is passionate about his subjects. “I’m teaching about how to be physically active and healthy,” says Richards, “I’m pumped about it, I come to work pumped.”
