Laurent Duvernay-Tardif Is Choosing Harvard Over The NFL This Season

When it comes to local Montreal celebrities, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif is one of the hometown heroes that we can't get enough of. For those of you who have been living under a rock this past year, Duvernay-Tardif is best known as an offensive lineman for the Kansas City Chiefs. He's a Superbowl champion and just so happens to be the first active NFL player to become a doctor after graduation. And, he even made the cover of Sports Illustrated. 

As if his resume wasn't impressive enough, our hometown glory is now going to start a new chapter of his life by continuing his education at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard, online. 

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But, he's opting out of the 2020 NFL season.

The athlete told Sports Illustrated, "For my whole career, my two passions had complemented each other and aligned with my convictions. In this particular season, though, they did not align."

He explains that "In 2020, just by playing football I could potentially expose cities to COVID-19 and spread the virus. I believe I have a responsibility toward my community from a public-health perspective, and by playing, the risks would become more than just personal, more than simply about me."

Laurent plans on continuing to work at the long-term care facility he's been working at since nearly the beginning of the pandemic.

For his studies at Harvard, he will be "targeting classes in health and social behavior at a population level, nutrition from a global population standpoint, biostatistics and epidemiology."

This Montreal local got his medical degree in 2018 from McGill University and has continued to shine both on and off the football field.

His incredible talent on the football field may impress the masses but his ambition to aid those in need is what truly makes him a local hero.

Good luck at Harvard, Dr. Duvernay-Tardif!