Niki Rybko was named Harvard's Associate Director of Athletics for Student-Athlete Health and Wellness in August of 2022. Rybko, who worked at Harvard for four years earlier in her career, returned to Cambridge after a seven-season stint at nearby Wellesley College.
Arriving at Wellesley in June 2015, Rybko served as the Blue's Director of Sports Medicine & Well-Being, overseeing the athletic department's sports medicine efforts for its 13 varsity teams and club sports clinic. In addition to her athletic training responsibilities, Rybko coordinated Wellesley's student-athlete mental health initiatives, was the liaison and coordinator of its sports dietician and served as the Blue's healthcare administrator. More recently, Rybko, a member of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) COVID-19 Working Group, built and supervised Wellesley's refuel station and wellness office all while managing and teaching medical physical education independent study. This past January, meanwhile, Rybko was named the 2021 recipient of the Athletic Trainers of Massachusetts (ATOM) Athletic Trainer of the Year Award.
Prior to making 13-mile trek southwest to Wellesley, Rybko spent four years with Harvard Sports Medicine, working primarily with the men's and women's rowing programs (lightweight, heavyweight), while also serving as a member of the department's physicals, 5-year planning and emergency planning committees. She additionally worked as a preceptor for athletic training students from Boston University, Bridgewater State University and Lasell College, where she served as an Adjunct Professor in Lasell's CAATE Athletic Training Education Program from 2011-15.
Before her successful tenure at Harvard, Rybko worked at Brandeis University from Aug. 2004-Sept. 2011 as one of three athletic trainers on staff, supporting 21 varsity programs with daily practice and competition coverage, and assisting with injury care, prevention, and rehabilitation. She was also responsible for the Judges' sports medicine policies, its procedure manual and the creation of strength and conditioning programs for Brandeis women's basketball, volleyball, softball, and men's soccer. During her time in Waltham, she added to her list of responsibilities the supervision of Brandeis' Student Athlete Advisory Committee, while serving as a teaching assistant for a sports psychology and sports sociology independent study.
A certified and licensed athletic trainer, Rybko is a 2001 graduate of the University of Florida, obtaining her bachelor's degree in exercise and sport science/athletic training. She later earned her master's degree in 2004 in exercise science from the School of Public Health at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Rybko began her career in college athletics as an undergraduate while in Gainesville, Fla., supporting the Gators' women's soccer and women's volleyball teams. She was also a graduate assistant athletic trainer at UMass, working with the men's soccer and women's lacrosse programs, and spent time at Northwestern as an intern athletic trainer (women's volleyball, cheerleading).
