By Amanda Larch Hinchman

Jaineet “Jai” Chhabra, MD, a 2023 graduate of the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine (JCESOM), is now a family medicine resident at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), and the first resident accepted into UNLV’s new sports medicine track. A former Huntington Prep athlete, Dr. Chhabra combines clinical training with hands-on experience as an assistant team physician at major athletic events. MarshallMedicine chatted with Dr. Chhabra about his journey from student-athlete to physician.

Dr. Chhabra aims to bring advanced sports medicine to underserved athletes.

Q: Where did your interest in athletics and medicine begin?

A: Basketball was my first passion. Inspired by the Rocky films I watched with my family, I persisted through early health struggles and eventually found some success as a late-blooming combo guard at Huntington Prep during the final months of my senior year. However, multiple injuries impacted my trajectory, particularly during my postgrad year at the SPIRE Institute in Ohio. While starting my physical therapy that same year, I coached youth athletes, some enduring neurodevelopmental or physical challenges. This greatly contributed to why I elected to pursue the premedical route at UCLA, where I completed my bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Q: As an assistant team physician, you’ve treated athletes at every level, from professionals and Olympians to Division I and high school competitors. How have your past experiences shaped the way you approach your current role?

A: My past experiences, coupled with local demand for youth basketball mentorship during my transition into becoming a doctor, reframed my connection to sports. Additionally, considering how my body recovered with movement-conscious exercise, I began embracing the value of biomechanics. Collaborating with Dr. Steven Leigh at Marshall’s School of Kinesiology on motion capture and perception training with recreational basketball players greatly contributed to my current research interests. Primary care sports medicine, or non-operative orthopaedics, merges my intrigues for physiology, biodesign and public health nicely. The family medicine program at UNLV was one of few places worldwide where I could start forming the necessary infrastructure to execute this integration more expeditiously as a resident.

Q: You dedicate time to community outreach, especially in youth sports. Why do you believe it’s important to give back?

A: Personally, community engagement is not extracurricular; it’s the crux. Whether I’m running a basketball camp for kids with autism, volunteering as a team physician for under-resourced high schools or hosting reading events for local students, these initiatives represent preventive care in action. Meeting people where they are, listening and investing in their potential — this is the kind of doctor and entrepreneur I aim to be.

Q: How did your time at the JCESOM prepare you for UNLV?

A: Marshall echoes humility, integrity and service while also embracing new ideas that have the potential to advance care both in West Virginia and beyond Appalachia. Our smaller setting allowed me to pursue unique research opportunities that might have been harder to access and co-lead at larger institutions. I strove to balance scholarly acumen with the demands of a traditional clinical curriculum, and that hustle prepared me for the rigors of continuing this pace during residency. UNLV has similarly championed my efforts.

Q: Your work includes research on biomechanics and muscle recovery, as well as developing wearable technologies. How does your goal of reaching underserved communities motivate you?

A: Innovation, for me, is about increasing access. Whether it’s wearables for real-time injury tracking or studying blood flow for muscle recovery, I constantly ask, “How can we make this beneficial for everyone?” If rural or inner-city athletes or injured veterans had the same recovery tools as pros, we’d likely see more undiscovered talent reach their potential. That belief fuels every research proposal and prototype I am currently working on.

Q: How do you envision your work evolving in the future?

A: I want to further integrate sports medicine with engineering, AI, bioinformatics and economics to develop solutions beyond traditional clinical settings. I envision a future where wearables, movement science, machine learning and outreach converge. I hope to pursue further interdisciplinary training, possibly through a PhD, to continue

IN THE WORDS OF HIS MENTORS

“Dr. Chhabra, as our first resident in the sports medicine track, has set the bar extraordinarily high. He is working hard to innovate through development of wearable technologies, improving injury management and prevention for elite athletes and ensuring whatever he develops reaches underserved communities. His research portfolio, spanning from movement science to conceptualizing the need to integrate artificial intelligence with augmentation and coupling of musculoskeletal and cardiovascular biomechanics, reflects not just intellectual depth but a commitment to impact many populations from a scholarly perspective as well. ”

— Wade Gaal, MD, CAQSM, medical director of UNLV Athletics, program director of the sports medicine fellowship at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV

“Dr. Chhabra is one of my brightest and most hardworking residents and is currently one of my chief residents. He is an outstanding clinician and a wonderful teacher, and he has been great about volunteering to enhance his scope of practice. He has received national recognition for his outreach and will be the most published resident in our program’s history by graduation. He also received the top In-Training Exam score for his class this past year. Dr. Chhabra has overcome major obstacles, and the pressures of his upbringing shaped him into the fine physician and leader he is today, with a wonderful bedside manner and willingness to innovate amidst challenges.”

— David Kuykendall, MD, program director of the family medicine residency at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV

Date Posted: Thursday, March 19, 2026