Biz pro-file: Colorado doctor goes the distance.

• Author: Sukin, Gigi
• Position: SPORTS - Gloria Beim

6,368

That is the distance in miles it took Dr. ,368 Gloria Beim to get to work from her hometown of Crested Butte. As chief medical officer for Team USA at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Beim is willing to travel near and far for her "love of taking care of athletes. Their energy, their spirit--it's quite amazing," she says.

Since a February 2013 phone call from Dr. Bill Morea, medical director of the United States Olympic Committee, during which Beim learned she would lead the medical team at the 2014 Winter Games, she has thrown herself into the role, ordering the Pimsleur Approach the day she found out and studying Russian an hour a day in her car ever since. "I want to be fluent. I think it will help the team," said the orthopedic surgeon, who specializes in sports medicine.

Her responsibilities entail working with the director of sports medicine for the U.S. Olympic Committee to coordinate medical care for Team USA's athletes and supervising roughly 70 medical staff members. While in Sochi, she will oversee all athletes' medical needs, from managing common colds and infections to treating injuries sustained during competition.

"These athletes will be pushed to the brink, and we do everything within our power to ensure they remain healthy and are ready to compete," Beim said. "We're the team behind the team."

Never reluctant to learn, Beim was admitted to college at the age of 14, aspiring to become a medical professional since childhood, but turning her attention from pets to people around 16. "I originally wanted to be a veterinarian," said the doctor, who was born to Holocaust survivor parents and attributes their struggle as a source of inspiration. But after a bad knee injury she switched her focus to human medicine. For the past 17 years, she has been practicing in Gunnison Valley.

Beim brings new methods and different procedures learned while traveling internationally to better her own business back home. "Some of the techniques ... the way you treat certain sports injuries, I've learned on the road and would never have been exposed to them without those experiences."

For instance, after learning the cutting-edge technique of guided mastic ultrasound while overseas, Beim was able to help patients overcome injury without expensive and...