Dr Jo Larkin

Dr Larkin has extensive experience in treating elite athletes and working in high performance environments, as well as managing musculoskeletal conditions of city workers, weekend warriors and physically active people in pain. Currently she is Tournament Medical Director for the Women's Rugby World Cup in England. 

Previous roles include Global Medical Director for SailGP, a international grand prix of F50 racing and was the previous Chief Medical Officer for the LTA. Dr Larkin works with athletes of all abilities and has been fortunate enough to be involved in two Olympics and one Paralympics. She worked at both the Olympics and Paralympics in London 2012 in the athletes’ village polyclinic as a sport physician and in the athletics stadium as a field of play team leader. More recently she travelled to Rio as the team physician for the men’s and women’s GB rugby 7s squad, with the men successfully winning a silver medal. For 8 years, she worked for England Rugby and was involved with every team in some capacity, through this she has developed an interest in women’s health and performance. She was also involved in the Rugby World Cup 2015 as an immediate care doctor and an area medical officer.

Through her experience of working in the Military, at Headley Court, and her appointment as the clinical lead of the Spines department, she developed an interest in chronic pain management and the understanding the multifaceted components to pain.

She has worked in a variety of sports including premiership academy football, rugby, hockey, ice hockey and GB disability target shooting. She has experience with both international men’s & women’s rugby and football and has also worked extensively with the younger age group.

Recent and current appointments

• Tournament Medical Director RWC2025 
• Global Medical Director for SailGP
• Chief Medical Officer for the LTA
• England RFU International Performance Doctor for England Sevens and Women’s XVs Rugby
• GB7 Men’s and Women’s team physician
• Elected Member of the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine
• RFU Immediate Care in Sport Instructor
• International Paralympic Classifier
• Elected Member of the Council for the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine
• Elected Member of the Royal College of Physicians Sport & Exercise Medicine Committee
• Previous head of Spines Rehabilitation for the Armed Forces at DMRC Headley Court

Publications, lectures and teaching

• Honorary lecturer on the MSc in Sports Medicine at the University College of London
• Honorary lecturer on the MSc programme at CNELM
• Best practice guidelines for the MOD for low back pain
• Emergency Medicine Journal (BMJ): Changes to the cardiac biomarkers of non-elite athletes completing the 2009 London Marathon
• NHS Shared Decision Making – Cholesterol
• Pulse article: ankle injuries
• Letter to the editor of the BMJ: Exercise and depression
• Tower Hamlets Public Health – Needs assessment for physical activity in cancer survivors
• BJSM Blog
• Tower Hamlets Public Health – Needs assessment for physical activity in cancer survivors.
• Contributing author to “SEM: A fresh Approach”
• Contributor to the "Tower Hamlets Physical Activity Care Pathway for Adults"
• Contributor to the "BMA Sports Injuries Book" – 4 chapters

Society memberships

• Fellow Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine
• Member British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine
• Member of the Royal Society of Medicine