David M. Joyner is an orthopedic physician

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

, a member of the Penn State University Board of Trustees, and the current Acting Athletic Director

Athletic director

An athletic director is an administrator at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic programs...

 for Penn State.

Biography

Joyner played football for Penn State in the 1970s. He graduated from Penn State in 1972 with a degree in science, and received his medical doctorate from Penn State in 1976. He worked as an orthopedic surgeon, and later worked with the World Football League

World Football League

The World Football League was a short-lived gridiron football league that played in 1974 and part of 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest the WFL reached was placing a team – the Hawaiians – in Honolulu, Hawaii. The...

. He focused his career on sports medicine

Sports medicine

Sports medicine is a branch of medicine that deals with physical fitness, treatment and prevention of injuries related to sports and exercise...

, eventually serving as chair of the United States Olympic Sports Medicine Committee

United States Olympic Committee

The United States Olympic Committee is a non-profit organization that serves as the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee for the United States and coordinates the relationship between the United States Anti-Doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency and various...

.

Joyner was elected to the Penn State Board of Trustees in July of 2000 to a three-year term, and was re-elected in 2003, 2006, and 2009.

Acting Athletic Director

Joyner was named acting Athletic Director in November 2011, in the wake of the Penn State sex abuse scandal

Penn State sex abuse scandal

The Penn State sex abuse scandal refers to allegations that former Pennsylvania State University football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky sexually assaulted or had inappropriate contact with at least eight underage boys on or near university property...

. Athletic Director Timothy Curley

Timothy Curley

Timothy Curley is the athletic director for Penn State University, currently suspended from his position after being indicted for perjury related to the Penn State sex abuse scandal.-Career:...

 was placed on administrative leave

Administrative leave

Administrative leave is a temporary leave from a job assignment, with pay and benefits intact. Generally, the term is reserved for employees of non-business institutions such as schools, police, and hospitals....

 following his indictment for perjury

Perjury

Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...

and failing to report possible child abuse. Joyner pledged to rehabilitate the athletic department and return to core values as an academic unit, saying, "Now if we've lost some of that luster because of things that have happened, I can tell you that I've never lost that core value, and this athletic department will reflect that core value."