Irving Dardik

Irving Israel Dardik (October 3, 1936 – November 1, 2023) was an American vascular surgeon who taught at Albert Einstein College of Medicine[1] and founded the Sports Medicine Council of the US Olympic Committee.[1] Dardik was notable as being among the first medical doctors to endorse the use of chiropractic in sports, when he recommended in 1979 that the United States Olympic Committee include a Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.) as a member of its medical team at all future Olympic Games.[2] As a result, chiropractor George Goodheart attended the XIIIth Winter Olympic Games, in Lake Placid, NY, and the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs instituted a Volunteer Doctor Program for D.C.'s.[3]

In 1980, Dardik helped direct the inaugural Olympic Sports Medicine Conference (Feb 26 through 29) in Boston.[4]

In the early 1970s, together with his brother Herbert Dardik, he pioneered the use of umbilical veins as a source of graft tissue for bypass surgeries.[5]

Dardik died on November 1, 2023, at the age of 87.[6]

  1. ^ a b Nicholson, Joe (13 August 1995). "Doc a Real Cure-iosity". Daily News.
  2. ^ Press, Stephen J. (2013), History of Sports Chiropractic, New Jersey: C.I.S Commercial Finance Grp., Ltd., pp. 124–127, ISBN 9781105536830
  3. ^ Sportelli, L (April 10, 2006). "Chiropractic Sports Devotees Deserve a Gold Medal!". Dynamic Chiropractic. 24 (8).
  4. ^ Phil Gunby (Jan 11, 1980). "More physician involvement in future Olympic programs". JAMA. 243 (2): 103. doi:10.1001/jama.1980.03300280007004.
  5. ^ Staff, H; Ibrahim, IM; Baier, R; Sprayregen, S; Levy, M; Dardik, II (December 1976). "AMA News". JAMA. 236 (25): 2859–2862. doi:10.1001/jama.1976.03270260015018. PMID 1036587.
  6. ^ "Irving Dardik Obituary - Hackensack, NJ". Dignity Memorial. Retrieved 2023-11-09.