Julia Vaizer, assistant professor of emergency medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine, She will be the chief medical officer at IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway when he takes over next season.
Dr. Vaizer has spent the last year helping Dr. Geoffrey Billows, the long-time chief medical officer, announced at the driver’s meeting before Sunday’s race in Toronto that he would resign.
Billows has been undergoing treatment for parotid cancer since November 2020 and wants to spend more time with his family. He plans to help Vaizer on a short-term basis while he continues his treatment.
“Dr. Billows and Dr. Vaizer has been working closely with us over the past few years, so we know this will be a seamless transition,” said Indianapolis Motor Speedway president J. Douglas Boles. “We look forward to continuing to work with Dr. Vaizer as she steps into her new role as IndyCar’s female medical director.”
Vaizer graduated from the University of Florida in 2011 and received his medical degree from the University of Central Florida in 2016. He completed emergency training at Detroit Receiving Hospital in 2019 and became the first graduate of the IU School of Medicine’s motorsports fellowship in July 2021 . . .
He began his career with IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2018 during a training session.
“Dr. Billows has been my friend, mentor, teacher and like family to me,” said Vaizer. “It is a great honor to be chosen to continue his work. It fills me with inspiration. I know I will work hard to continue what they have established as one of the most successful medical teams in the world of motorsport. I can’t wait for the next chapter and see how we can continue to improve the field of next-generation medicine. “
Billow began his career at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as a resident in 1993, volunteering at the IU Health Emergency Medical Center in the infield during race weeks. He later worked as an IndyCar team doctor and rose to Speedway medical director in 2006; added the role of executive director of IndyCar in 2016.
During that time, Billows has served as an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the IU School of Medicine.
“It’s no secret that the last 20 months have been difficult for me,” he said. I thought, ‘I have to enjoy every moment I have left.’ But I stay to help part-time because I enjoy it so much. The opportunity to work with IndyCar and IMS has been the privilege of a lifetime. It has been a different kind of work. It is definitely beneficial. It not only gives me the opportunity to help take care of drivers but also has the opportunity to promote safety in the trucking industry.”
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