Dr. Robert “Warne” Fitch, was appointed head team physician for Vanderbilt Athletics in July 2015.
A native of Naperville, Illinois, Fitch has served as a team physician for the Vanderbilt football squad since 2006, and has also cared for numerous additional Commodore student-athletes during that time. He has also worked with members of the Nashville Predators and Nashville Sounds, and athletes from numerous Middle Tennessee high schools.
Fitch is a graduate from Wake Forest, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1997 and doctor of medicine degree in 2001. He completed his residency in emergency medicine at Vanderbilt from 2001-04 and served as chief resident of Vanderbilt’s Emergency Medicine program in 2005. The following year, he also became the first emergency medicine-trained physician at Vanderbilt to complete a fellowship in Primary Care Sports Medicine.
He has played a key role in educating medical students, paramedics, athletic trainers and fellow physicians in sports medicine and sideline management of athletes. He has authored numerous publications and lectured both regionally and nationally to audiences on various sports medicine topics.
Since 2006, Fitch has served on the faculties of both the Vanderbilt emergency medicine and sports medicine/orthopedics departments. He has been an active member of the American Medical Society of Sports Medicine and the American College of Sports Medicine. He has also served as the Commissioner of the Tennessee Athletic Commission, appointed by Gov. Phil Bredesen, from 2009-12 and as its vice-chairman from 2012-13.
For his efforts, Fitch has received numerous faculty teaching awards from the university, including the Five Star Excellence Award in Clinical Practice in Orthopedics in 2014. He is a three-time winner of the Vanderbilt Department of Emergency Medicine Faculty Teaching Award, earning the honor in 2008, 2012, and 2015.
The doctor and his wife, Jill, reside in Brentwood, with their four children: Sam, twins Ty and Alli, and Evan. Fitch’s active hobbies include running, camping and hiking. He also enjoys watching his kids participate in a variety of youth sports.