Dr. Juan Valdivia joins the USFF as Medical Director
Since having been launched in March of 2018, the last 12 months have provided the US Freediving Federation (USFF) with tremendous growth from the freediving community across the US. The pandemic and the economy has caused people to re-evaluate what is important in life, focus more on themselves and get connected to the environment.
To support this growth and strengthen the USFF, a few appointments will be taking place over the next month with the first one being Dr. Juan Valdivia as the Medical Director. “Given Dr. Valdivia’s personal experience with freediving, the extensive research he is doing on the sport and the great lengths he takes to help spread awareness about medical safety, I could not think of someone else more qualified in the United States for this role of Medical Director,” says Jeremy Stephan, President of the US Freediving Federation. “The organization, its members and the sport will continue to benefit greatly from Dr. Valdivia’s participation with the USFF.”
Dr. Juan Valdivia-Valdivia (or “Juani” in the Freediving community) completed internship at UIC-MGH Surgery program in Chicago and completed residency in Neurological Surgery at University of Arizona and Barrow Neurological Institute. Having completed a fellowship in Complex and Reconstructive Spine Surgery at the University of Michigan Department of Neurosurgery and a fellowship in Neurosurgical Oncology at Emory University, Dr. Valdivia served as Assistant professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Michigan and Chief of Neurosurgery at the Ann Arbor VA healthcare System until January 2015.
Dr. Valdivia moved to Tampa, after taking his first Freediving lesson in Long Island, Bahamas at Vertical Blue. He is an expert member of the AIDA Medical & Science Committee, and member of AIDA Disciplinary Committee. He has contributed to the AIDA Black-out guidelines, lung squeeze guidelines, medical equipment for competition guidelines, AIDA mini-Neuro Exam for Freedivers, and is director of communications for the AIDA Medical committee, serving under Dr. Oleg Melikhov.
He is a current NR holder for his home country, Peru, in CMAS and AIDA. He also serves as a Freediving consultant for DAN America.
As Medical Director for the USFF, Dr. Valdivia has a number of things planned that should bring great value to the members of the USSF, and some of those things include the following:
Virtual medical guidance for members of the USFF
24/7 access to medical guidance on Freediving-related incidents for USFF National Team members
Frequent Freediving safety and medical seminars delivered virtually
Medic consultation and approval for competition medical setup
Virtual Freediving medical seminars
…and more.
The USFF was started in 2018 under the sanctioning of CMAS International, the worldwide governing body for underwater sports as afforded by the International Olympic Committee. And if Freediving were to be added to the Olympics as a sport, then the USFF would be the official governing body in the United States for the sport of Freediving. “With the appointment of Dr. Valdivia and others, the USFF is setting the foundation for strength and future growth towards that Olympic Dream’” according to Jeremy Stephan.