Dr. Naresh C. Rao is board certified in Family Medicine and Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment and
holds a Certificate of Added Qualifications in Sports Medicine. He served on Team USA's
Medical Team for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo 2021 as well as the Olympic Team USA Water Polo
Physician for the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He continues to serve as a team
physician for USA Water Polo.
His critically acclaimed book, Step Up Your Game: The Revolutionary Program Elite Athletes Use to
Increase Performance and Achieve Total Health, was published in 2016. Being touted as a playbook by
which one can assemble her or his own "inner wellness dream team," the book sheds light on
performance secrets elite athletes use and how to apply them to everyday life. The book has
been the subject of medical research investigating its potential to create meaningful lifestyle changes
for not only athletes but for patients who wish to live healthy lives and prevent disease. He
is passionate about speaking on the topic, and has delivered keynote speeches nationwide.
Dr. Rao had been practicing Sports and Wellness Medicine for ten years in San Diego, California before
relocating back to his roots in New York in 2011. He had been on faculty as an instructor at the
University of California San Diego, San Diego State University, and Western University of Health
Sciences. He currently serves as a Clinical Assistant Professor at the New York Institute of Technology
College of Osteopathic Medicine as well as clinical faculty at NYU School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Beth
Israel Family Medicine Residency, and Northwell Plainview Hospital Sports Medicine Fellowship.
Dr. Rao is the Chairman of the New York Athletic Club's Saturday Morning Program, a sports program
that has taught the Olympic tradition to children for over 127 years. He played club water polo at
Colgate University, is a competitive tennis player, and completed the San Diego Rock and Roll
Marathon in 2006. Dr. Rao's love for sports thoroughly pervades his professional and personal life. He
donates his time to educating children on health and wellness and has a strong belief in giving back to
the community through philanthropy. He is happily married to his wife of over 21 years and has two
children and a Maltipoo.
