Dr. James Slauterbeck has lived in Shelburne for four years, but is already contributing to the community and the Shelburne News with his bi-monthly sport's column on sports health and safety. James has lived a rather interesting life, and here are more details about his background.

Family: James and his wife Gloria have been married for 11 years. They have three children: 9-year-old twins Andrew and Grace who attend Mater Christi, and Celeste, who is six and attends the Renaissance School.

Education, career, and research: James was born in Ohio, and grew up in Arizona. He first attended Arizona State and received his degree in chemistry, then received his M.D. at the University of Arizona Tucson. He then spent five years at the University of New Mexico for five years achieving his orthopedic surgery degree. Two years followed at UCLA as James completed a fellowship in sports medicine. It was here that he was able to work on the Boston Bruins athletes.

James then moved to Texas and worked at Texas Tech University for 10 years as an associate professor and vice chair of the orthopedic department. James and his wife then took a big move to Norway where he did Olympic research training looking at knee ligament injuries in athletes. James commented that the way in which the research was completed was very interesting because about five cameras would video a runner running. Then the video was turned into animation so the researchers could see the individual forces on the knee, how the knee moved, how, and where it might tear, etc.

Five years ago, James' wife came to visit Vermont in December and was amazed at how warm and pleasant the weather was in Vermont (?!) as compared to Norway. The family moved directly to Shelburne and loves it. Currently, James spends four of his days as a physician in sports medicine on Tilley Drive, and about one and a half days on UVM's campus doing research and teaching. James says he likes the balance, and enjoys teaching and research, which focuses on knee ligament injury and prevention. He is working with a large grant at UVM for his research, and hopes to find answers on how these injuries occur and what the best methods of prevention are.

Why medicine? James says the obvious answer is that when he was one and a half years old he fell off the couch and broke his arm, which sprung his interest in setting bones. He said he enjoys the mechanics of putting things together, and likes that he can see a quick response to fixing broken arms and legs. His main motivation has always been to take care of athletes, as he is an athlete too. In college, James was an All American football player, and he still is very active.

Favorite food: Ropa Vieja, a shredded beef recipe cooked in a Cuban sauce. James' wife is Cuban, and he said this is one of his favorite dishes.

Hobbies: Bicycling (sometimes even 100 miles a week), weight training, sailing, yoga, canoeing, kayaking, hiking, cross country skiing

Favorite movie: "Top Gun"

Favorite music: Country

First concert: Reba McEntire

Pets: A Bouvier named Blue and lots of fish

Bucket list: Take his children canoeing along the Canadian boundary waters, go backpacking in Alaska with his children, and sail through the Bahamas