Dr Celeste Geertsema is a New Zealand sports physician (born in South Africa) currently working at Aspetar, Qatar Sports and Orthopaedic Hospital. She has a Fellowship with the Australasian College of Sports and Exercise Medicine. Her special interests are in event cover, football medicine and snow and adventure sports.
Dr Celeste Geertsema was the first female Team Physician at a FIFA World Cup (in South Africa 2010), and subsequently the first female Venue Medical Officer (VMO) at the FIFA World Cup (in Russia 2018). She was a member of the IOC Games Group, responsible for overseeing medical services at the Winter Olympic Games in 2018 and has further provided or overseen medical services at six FIFA age group or senior Women’s World Cups, the IAAF World Championships, the Handball World Championships, FINA World Cups, IAAF Diamond League events, and WTA and ATP tournaments.
Dr Celeste was team physician for the New Zealand national men’s football team for 7 years, and Medical Director for NZ Canoe Racing. She has also worked as ski patrol doctor for 5 years, as Medical Officer for the New Zealand Army for 5 years and has been expedition doctor for Mt Everest and Mt Aconcagua expeditions. She enjoys participating in sports even more than watching it and is passionate about adventure sports, especially in pristine natural environments. She loves skiing, snowboarding, SCUBA diving and kite-surfing, but her biggest physical achievement was to complete the ‘Gobi March’, a 250km ultra-marathon in one of the most beautiful and remote deserts in the world. She considers herself a generalist in sports medicine and is Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. She also passionately supports equal opportunities, irrespective of sex, gender, race or cultural background.