Thomas A. Einhorn, M.D.

Thomas A. Einhorn, M.D. is Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Biochemistry at Boston University School of Medicine. A graduate of Rutgers University and Cornell Medical College, he completed his internship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, orthopaedic residency at St. Luke's - Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, and a fellowship at the Hospital for Special Surgery. His professional interests include research on the repair and regeneration of bone and cartilage, reconstructive surgery of the hip and knee, and the treatment of metabolic bone disease. He has served as Chairman of the Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal Study Section of the National Institutes of Health, President of the Orthopaedic Research Society, President of the International Society for Fracture Repair and Chairman of the Committee on Examinations of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Currently, he is Chairman of the Council on Research and Scientific Affairs of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Osteoporosis Foundation. His awards include the American British Canadian Travelling Fellowship, Marshall R. Urist Award, and Kappa Delta Award . His editorial posts include Deputy Editor for Current Concepts Reviews for The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, and membership on the Editorial Boards of The Journal of Bone and Mineral Research and Bone. Since 1997, he has been listed by Woodward/White as one of The Best Doctors in America. An author of over 100 scientific articles, his future goals are dedicated to exploring the role of molecular medicine in orthopaedic surgery.

Harry K. Genant, MD

Dr Genant is Professor of Radiology, Medicine, Epidemiology, and Orthopedic Surgery at the University of California San Francisco. He received his MD from Northwestern University in Chicago, and completed his internship at Johns Hopkins, where he was part of the Osler Medical Service.

He is the founder and Executive Director of the Osteoporosis and Arthritis Research Group, in the Department of Radiology at the UCSF. This group has been a leading source of research on non invasive imaging methods applied to osteoporosis and arthritis for the last decade.

Dr Genant has also been an editor or co-editor of more than 30 books; author or co-author of more than 170 chapters or invited articles, nearly 500 articles in peer reviewed scientific and medical journals, and over 600 abstracts presented at national and international scientific and professional gatherings. He is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, Osteoporosis International, and Calcified Tissue International.

Among the numerous awards and honors he has received are honorary lifetime memberships in the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine. He is also an honorary member of the Chilean Society of Osteology, the Hungarian Society of Osteology, and the European Society of Skeletal Radiology.

He has served as Chair of the Scientific Committee of the First, Second and Third International Conferences on Osteoporosis in China, and was co-chair of the Second International Conference on Osteoporosis in Japan. He was voted Outstanding Physician of the Year by the International Society for Clinical Densitometry in 1998. He is currently Secretary of the International Skeletal Society, and Chair of the WHO Task Force on Osteoporosis. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists.

John A Kanis

Professor Kanis is director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Metabolic Bone Diseases at Sheffield. His interest in bone disease covers basic, clinical research, health technology assessment, epidemiology and health economics. He is an author of more than 500 scientific publications and a Royal Society of Medicine Award Winner for his Textbook on Osteoporosis. He is an Editor of Bone and sits on the Editorial Board of several peer review journals. He is a long-standing advisor for Government Departments and non-Governmental organisations in several countries. He founded the International Osteoporosis Foundation in 1988 and was Chairman of its Scientific Advisory Board until 1998. He coordinates and participates in many international research collaborations and has served on the project management team of several EC-funded research awards (eg EVOS, EPOS).

Dr Tim Spector MB MSc MD FRCP

Dr Spector is a Consultant Rheumatologist & Director of the Twin and Genetic Epidemiology Research Unit at St Thomas' Hospital, London.

Since obtaining his medical degree from the University of London in 1982, he has worked in Brussels, obtained a Masters degree in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and was a Wellcome Research Fellow. He obtained his MD thesis in 1989 has held a number of visiting Professorships and has been a consultant since 1993. He founded the St Thomas' UK Adult Twin Registry in 1994, which has become the worlds largest clinical twin resource and in 1989 the unique Chingford Longitudinal study of OA and osteoporosis.

He is a member of the scientific advisory board of the National Osteoporosis Society, on the Program committees of the American College of Rheumatology, American Society of Bone and Mineral Research and EULAR. He holds consultancies with a number of European & US pharmaceutical companies and holds three genetic patents.

He has published over 200 research articles predominantly on epidemiological and genetic aspects of osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and common complex diseases.