Power couple
UF alumni Kevin Vincent, M.D. ’03, Ph.D., and Heather Vincent, Ph.D., propel patients to peak performance
July 25, 2024 — As a student athlete growing up in Connecticut, Kevin Vincent, M.D. ’03, Ph.D., always had an interest in how the human body works. He became captivated by the process of recovery after injury and formulated his career goal: to become a sports medicine physician in Florida, a state he fell in love with after many trips to Disney World.
While a master’s student studying exercise science in Massachusetts in the early 1990s, he met a fellow student who would become the perfect partner — in work and in life.
“My adviser thought we’d make a great pair, but he didn’t know how great,” Kevin said of his now wife, Heather Vincent, Ph.D., one of the world’s most cited researchers on exercise’s impact on injury and disease.
Following his dream of making a life in Florida, the two moved south to Gainesville in 1995 to pursue doctoral degrees in exercise physiology, becoming the first husband and wife to get Ph.D.s from UF in the same major on the same day. Kevin went on to attend medical school at UF, and upon his graduation in 2003, the couple headed to Virginia for residency training in physical medicine and rehabilitation and a postdoctoral fellowship, respectively. But the Sunshine State still called to them.
In 2007, the Vincents found themselves back in Florida at UF to spearhead the evolution of the UF Health Sports Performance Center, which combined their passion for exercise and medicine. They also launched the UF College of Medicine Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation — which Kevin leads as the John H. and Mary Lou Dasburg Chair — and UF Health’s nonoperative sports medicine program.
Fast forward to today, and the Vincents are involved in everything from instigating UF Health’s membership in the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Medical Network and presenting research to the International Olympic Committee to leading a new UF research initiative designed around para-athletes.
UF Health joining the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Medical Network stemmed from the Vincents’ years spent working with the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, or USOPC. After joining the network last fall, UF Health is part of a select group of health organizations — and the only one in the Southeast — providing care to Team USA athletes from across the country as they prepare for international competition.
“Jonathan Finnoff, chief medical officer for the USOPC, asked, ‘Would UF Health be interested in joining the USOP Medical Network?’ and I basically responded with, ‘Who wouldn’t?’” said Kevin, director of the UF Health Running Medicine Clinic and medical director of the UF Health Sports Performance Center. “There is a concentration of athletes and Team USA athletes in the Southeast, and Jon knew we were providers he could trust. Plus, we had the training and rehab to handle both able-bodied and para-athletes in one place.”
On the research front, Heather, an expert on using exercise to prevent injury and fight lifestyle diseases, leads a clinical and performance research team. She uses an integrative approach, combining physiological assessment, biochemical markers, biomechanical measures, patient subjective measures and long-term tracking.
Most recently, she presented her group’s work on retraining techniques to reduce running injuries to the International Olympic Committee on Prevention of Injury and Illness in Sport in Monaco. The mixed method, cross-sectional research study involved 680 runners. The team used a video camera system and an instrumented treadmill for gait analysis, with video replays used to analyze each athlete’s running form. From there, runners modified their gait and retrained themselves to lessen force stress and mitigate the risk of injury.
“We are one of the very few centers who are trying to use this technique and make it much more accessible for use by the general public,” said Heather, who serves as an associate professor and the vice chair of research for the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, director of the Exercise Medicine and Functional Fitness Laboratory and director of the UF Health Sports Performance Center. “We want youth runners, elite athletes, and everyone in between to be able to use this for their betterment.”
Closer to home, the Vincents are spearheading Transforming Sport Science Research for Every Body, a project that is one component of the UF & Sport Collaborative, an initiative aimed at propelling UF to the global stage in sports performance, health care, and communication, while illuminating the university’s world-class sports facilities and partnerships. The project will advance the analytic capacity of the UF Health Sports Performance Center, making it a centerpiece of research and testing for able-bodied and para-athletes, who have historically been underrepresented in academic research.
“We are looking for that ripple effect in medicine and science, where we not only apply this research to our patients and athletes but also equip our trainees to bring it to the community,” Kevin said. “We want to make that impact outside of the traditional academic setting so that it reaches parents, coaches, and everyone in the wider public who needs it.”
When they’re not in the clinic or in the lab, the Vincents enjoy spending time with their pets — two dogs and five exotic birds — and three sons, all of whom were born during their doctoral, medical, and residency training. While the kids were growing up, they could be found in a jogger or bike seat while their parents maintained an active lifestyle. These days, at least one member of the family can be found spending any given Friday night in their home gym.
Reflecting on their experiences, the Vincents are grateful for the opportunities they’ve had to build their family and careers at a place that fosters innovation and allows them to help patients, from high schoolers and grandparents to elite athletes, live out their dreams, whether that’s playing on a collegiate team, enjoying the trip of a lifetime, or competing on the world stage.
“We were offered opportunities to do what we do somewhere else, but we wanted to do it here,” Kevin said. “Part of the pride we feel for bringing the Olympics partnership to UF is that we get to shine a huge light on the university we love.”