Robert A. Arciero, MD

Dr. Robert Arciero is a professor and chief of the Sports Medicine Division of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at UConn Health. He is also the director of the Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Fellowship program at UConn Health. He is the lead Team Orthopaedic Physician for the University of Connecticut athletic department. As team physician for the UConn athletic programs, he provides sports care for the men's and women’s basketball, men and womens soccer, football, and hockey teams. He is also an orthopaedic team physician for USA Hockey and was the lead physician for the 2004 and 2008 World Championship team. Dr. Arciero is the author of over 180 peer-reviewed scientific articles on ligament, tendon and cartilage injuries of the knee and shoulder. He has contributed over 40 book chapters and recently was Co-editor of a recent book, Shoulder and Elbow Injuries in Athletes with Drs. Frank Cordasco and Matt Provencher. He has trained over 40 fellows in the subspecialty of Orthopaedic Sports Medicine.
Prior to his arrival at UConn, Dr. Arciero spent 13 years at Keller Army Hospital at West Point, NY, as the Chief of Orthopaedics and Director of the U.S. Army’s Bone & Soft Tissue Trauma Fellowship. In his rank of Colonel, he served two tours of duty including Operation Desert Storm/Shield in Saudi Arabia and Iraq in 1990-1991, for which he received a Bronze Star.
Dr. Arciero has been recognized as an International expert in managing complex knee and shoulder instability. He has been an invited to more than 250 venues nationally and internationally as keynote guest speaker, Instructional Course lecturer, Grand round speaker for such organizations as the American Academy of Orthopaedic Suregons, American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, The Arthroscopy Association of North America, The European Sports Medicine, Knee surgery, Arthroscopy Association and numerous universities just to name several.
Dr. Arciero has won several national and international awards. These include 3 prestigious O’Donahue awards for best clinical research study investigating risk factors for anterior cruciate ligament injuries and revision ACL surgery from the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, and the first place award for the best research study on arthroscopic rotator cuff repair from the International Society for Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery and Orthopaedic Sports Medicine. His main area of expertise is arthroscopic surgery with a primary focus on knee ligament instability, cartilage repair, osteotomy and shoulder instability.
In 2014-2015, Dr. Arciero was recognized for his service and leadership and was President of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, the premier orthopaedic sports society in the world. He has been Program Chairman for this society and has organized 10 meetings instructing his peers. He has received the George Rovere award from AOSSM for outstanding education of his peers. In 2021, Dr. Arciero was inducted into the AOSSM Hall of Fame and was awarded the prestigious Robert Leach Mr. Sports Medicine Award.