Dr. Dana Kotler is a physiatrist and sports medicine physician, Assistant Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) at Harvard Medical School. She began her studies at Oberlin College where she earned a B.A. in Biology (Hon.) and Dance Performance. She then pursued a comprehensive certification in the Pilates Method from Power Pilates. Her work as a dancer and Pilates instructor gave her the foundation for further study of the human body and its capacity for movement, paving the way for her further medical training. She is a graduate of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, NY. She completed a preliminary year in Internal Medicine at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, and a residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) at the Rehabilitation at the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab (formerly Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago)/Northwestern University. She then completed a fellowship in Sports Medicine at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital/Harvard Medical School. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School and an attending physician at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

She specializes in the care of patients with musculoskeletal and spine conditions, including performing interventional joint and spine procedures. Her interests are in injury prevention and anatomy education for dancers and athletes, cycling medicine and biomechanics, as well as the role of rehabilitation including core training in the treatment of back disorders.

She pioneered the Spaulding Cycling Medicine Program in 2015, which uses a collaborative evaluation approach to diagnose and manage medical problems in cyclists, and has seen over 350 cyclists since its inception, with a wide variety of diagnoses including knee and spine disorders, pelvic pain, cervical myelopathy, multiple sclerosis, and traumatic brain injury. She is the recipient of the Anne Klibanski Visiting Scholars award in 2023, through which she was an invited speaker for the Mayo Clinic Department of PM&R and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee medical staff. She has presented widely on the topic of cycling medicine, including at the Medicine of Cycling and Science and Cycling and Medicine Africa Cycling conferences, as well as for the Harvard Sports Medicine course, AMSSM medical student interest group webinar, American Academy of PM&R, and locally at multiple grand rounds and in the community at bike shops including Conte’s Bike Shop, Belmont Wheelworks and Steve the Bike Guy. She authored and co-authored multiple papers on overuse injury as well as traumatic brain injury in cycling, and training/injury considerations of women cyclists, including the review article Prevention, Evaluation, and Rehabilitation of Cycling-Related Injury for Current Sports Medicine Reports in 2016.

She is also a sought-after lecturer on low back pain, presenting at multiple Harvard Medical School CME courses for primary care physicians, as well as the New England Regional Nurse Practitioner conference and Pri-Med CME courses. As a resident and fellow, she taught the sold-out workshop "Hard Core: Pilates for Physiatrists" at the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation annual conference 3 years in a row. She has also given invited lectures on the topic of back pain, functional training, core strength and Pilates Method for the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Association of Academic Physiatrists (with Dr. Amy West), the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and Tufts University Medical Center, and for the Department of Theater and Dance at Oberlin College.

When not seeing patients, you can find her riding her bike, singing and playing the ukulele, and taking care of her 2 cats (plus a couple of foster cats).