Armando Vidal, MD

Education and Orthopedic Training

Dr. Vidal attended the University of Miami where he started medical school at the age of 19.  He graduated medical school at the top of his class and was awarded Junior AOA status – a distinction only awarded to the top four graduates of the medical school class.  Following medical school, he proceeded to train at Cornell/Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City – the most prestigious and esteemed Orthopaedic hospital and residency program in the world.  Following residency, he completed his Sports Medicine and Shoulder Fellowship at the renowned University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) under the guidance of Drs. Freddie Fu, Chris Harner and Jim Bradley – all previous presidents of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine.

Download Dr. Vidals’s CV

Athlete Care

After completion of his training, Dr. Vidal joined the faculty of the University of Colorado School of Medicine where he had a long and productive career prior to joining the team at the world renowned Steadman Clinic in Vail, CO. As faculty at the University of Colorado, Dr. Vidal spent over a decade directly treating elite level athletes. He was Head Team physician for the University of Colorado Men’s Basketball Team and the National Championship winning University of Denver Men’s Ice Hockey Team. Additionally, Dr. Vidal was Head Team Orthopedist for the NBA’s Denver Nuggets.

Appointments and Awards

Dr. Vidal is actively involved in several societies including the AAOS, AOSSM and AOA. He has recently served on the Board of the AOSSM – the premier sports medicine society in the world. Additionally, he previously served as executive Vice Chair in the Department of Orthopedics at the University of Colorado and remains Clinical Associate Professor in the department.

Dr. Vidal has received numerous awards during his career including the revered O’Donoghue Sports Injury Award, AOSSM Aircast Award for Clinical Science and Charles Neer Clinical Science Award (O’Donoghue and Neer Award for Contributions as part of MOON Network). Additionally, he was named as a 5280 “Top Doc” in Orthopedic Sports Medicince from 2012-2019 when he transitioned to his current practice at the Steadman Clinic.

Peer Education

Dr. Vidal is an author, lecturer, researcher and educator.  He has spent the past 14 years educating medical students, Orthopaedic residents and Sports Medicine Fellows – the future of our field.  He has published nearly 100 peer reviewed articles in sports medicine and numerous book chapters.  He is nationally regarded as an expert in complex knee reconstruction and articular cartilage repairs and lectures around the world on these topics.  He is an active researcher and his research is currently focused on optimizing outcomes from meniscal root injuries, meniscal transplants and articular cartilage restorative procedures.  He is a member of the very exclusive MOON Group – an exclusive, multi-center academic group of sports medicine surgeons dedicated to optimizing outcomes following ACL surgery.