Kikugawa has been at the University of Arizona since 2021 and has taken a focused interest in building a Performance Medicine platform. His philosophy is built around using objective data to help form, enhance, and prescribe injury risk mitigation strategies, decrease time lost due to injury, bolster a sports science approach, and increase field performance through objective metrics.
Kikugawa came to Arizona after spending several years at Northwestern University overseeing the healthcare of the football team. Other previous stops for him include Nevada as the Director of Sports Medicine, and SMU as an Associate Athletic Trainer. As a part of the SMU family, he was also given the opportunity to work closely with the sports medicine staff of the Dallas Mavericks and act as part of the host medical staff for the Cotton Bowl. He was first an athletic trainer and sports medicine teacher at Monroe High school north of Seattle, WA.
Kikugawa began his collegiate career as a student at Washington State University earning his Bachelor's degree in kinesiology. Upon graduation, he entered the University of Arkansas to begin his athletic training curriculum. In between his two years at Arkansas, he was able to spend the summer with the Buffalo Bills as an intern. After graduation in 2011, he spent the next NFL season with the Cleveland Browns as a seasonal assistant athletic trainer. Furthering his clinical skills, he has completed NASM's Corrective Exercise Specialist & Performance Enhancement Specialist programs, Functional Anatomy's Functional Range Release, and the Fascial Distortion model course.
Kikugawa is married to the former, Teresa Balam, who holds a doctorate in the field of Athletic Training. Together they have a son Kaden Michael, daughter Evelyn Rose, and an English Bulldog named Genghis.
