Orthopaedics Research Personnel
About Our Personnel
The Center for Advanced Orthopaedic Studies (CAOS) and the Musculoskeletal translational Innovation Initiative (MTII) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center consist of six full-time principal investigators and additional clinician-scientists who collaborate with laboratory-based investigators. Collectively, the two research arms of the department accommodate approximately 50 researchers, including post-doctoral and research fellows, undergraduate and graduate students.
Dr. Anderson received his PhD in Engineering Mechanics from Virginia Tech, studying musculoskeletal biomechanics with a focus on aging and gait. He joined the lab in 2010 as a postdoctoral fellow, focused on musculoskeletal modeling to understand spinal loading and the risk of vertebral fractures in older adults. Dr. Anderson became a faculty member in 2013, and currently holds an appointment as Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Anderson's research interests lie in three inter-connected areas:
- advancing understanding of thoracolumbar spine biomechanics, its effects on physical function, age-related changes, and in various spinal conditions (such as vertebral fractures, spine deformity, and spinal stenosis);
- developing advanced methodology for applying musculoskeletal biomechanics and modeling in large-scale population-based studies, clinical trials, and clinical applications; and
- biomechanics-based evaluation and design of interventions and treatments through inter-disciplinary collaborations.
He uses advanced motion analysis and musculoskeletal modeling approaches to evaluate spine motion and loading. Current projects include evaluation of spine motion and loading in older adults, assessment of trunk neuromuscular control in older adults at risk of falls, measuring spine and lower extremity motion and loading in patients with spinal stenosis, and determining the effects of a powered back-support exosuit during lifting tasks.
The second area of research involves development of novel MR techniques for evaluating the effect of age and degeneration on the mechanical competence of human discs. This work, in collaboration with the Department of Radiology at BIDMC and the Surgical Planning Laboratory at Brigham and Women's Hospital, incorporates the use of Tensor diffusion imaging and novel analysis techniques to provide detailed interrogation of the mechanical properties of the disc. The outcome of this work will allow better classification of disc as candidate for clinical treatment and may offer the possibility of developing novel, non-invasive methods to aid and evaluate the efficacy of new approaches and tissue based treatments for disc disease.
Dr. Mary Bouxsein has been a member of the biomechanics lab at BIDMC since 1992, and currently holds joint appointments as an Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School and adjunct Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Boston University; she is also a faculty member in the MIT-based Bioastronautics Program. Her research focuses on understanding skeletal fragility from a biomechanics viewpoint, and includes studies using animal models and human cadaveric tissue, as well as clinical investigations. She also has a strong interest in the use of novel non-invasive imaging techniques to predict fracture risk and monitor response to osteoporosis therapies.
Dr. Bouxsein has funding from the NIH to study the etiology of vertebral fractures and the role of bone microarchitecture in skeletal fragility in approximately 3,500 participants in the Framingham Heart Study. She also was awarded an NIH-Challenge grant to study the effects of perinatal diet on bone acquisition and maintenance, and has funding from NASA to study the effects of partial-weight bearing on the musculoskeletal system, and to study the effects of a novel bone anabolic drug in microgravity. Dr. Bouxsein previously served as a board member of the International Bone and Mineral Society, and currently serves on the committee of scientific advisors for the National Osteoporosis Foundation, as well as the International Osteoporosis Foundation. Dr. Bouxsein is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, and has published more than180 peer-reviewed articles and 30 book chapters and invited reviews. She was recently awarded the Herbert A. Fleisch Medal for scientific contribution to the field of bone biology by the International Osteoporosis Foundation.
Dr. Johannesdottir received her MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from University of Iceland and her key research skills are bone mechanics, CT-based imaging and statistics. In her MS work she developed a QCT-based method to investigate and monitor changes in muscle and femoral bone in response to electrical stimulation among spinal cord injured patients with denervated and degenerated muscles. For her PhD work, she used 3D musculoskeletal imaging to study the determinants of osteoporotic fragility among elderly people, especially hip fractures, and to assess age related changes by examining bone structure and shape. She then did a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr Ken Poole at University of Cambridge UK, where she expanded her imaging and statistical skills by using parametric mapping of femoral bone in patients with and without hip fractures and by using MRI images to assess bone health among Gaucher patients. In 2016 she joined the Bouxsein lab and became a faculty member in July 2018 and currently holds an appointment as an instructor in Orthopedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School. Her current research focuses on identifying the mechanisms of skeletal fragility among type 1 diabetes and the mechanisms of age-related fractures. She utilizes advanced non-invasive imaging techniques and statistical approaches to delineate mechanisms of skeletal fragility and predict fracture risk. Dr. Johannesdottir has NIH fundings to study fall risk and mechanisms of hip fractures in older people and hip fragility among T1 diabetes.
Dr. Nazarian has been a member of the lab since 1999, where he started as a Master’s student. He went on to complete his PhD and fellowship training, eventually joining the lab as a faculty member. Currently, he is an Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School and serves as the Vice Chair of Research Affairs and the Director of the Musculoskeletal Translational Innovation Initiative at the Carl J. Shapiro Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at BIDMC.
His work is focused on translational research, adopting a problem-solving approach and leveraging cross-disciplinary skills and technology to transcend the boundaries of traditional clinical and research fields. This process is fostered by nurturing strong collaborations between clinical and research faculty, where they work together to identify problems, ideate solutions, perform proof-of-concept and validation studies, leading to formation of startups and/or collaborations with industry partners.
For more information, visit Nazarian Lab.org
Dr. Snyder’s research interests include the mechanical etiology of osteoarthritis; etiology and prevention of age-related fractures; etiology and prevention of fracture associated with metastatic defects and benign bone defects; the reciprocal relationship between thoracic and spinal deformity and its effect on pulmonary function; relative interaction of material and structure in normal and pathologic bone; structural and mechanical analysis of tissue engineered bone using micro-computed tomography and mechanical testing.
Dr. Snyder has been associated with the laboratory since its founding in 1979 by his thesis advisor and mentor, W.C. Hayes, PhD He completed his MD and PhD in Biomechanics at the University of Pennsylvania under the auspices of the NIH Medical Scientist Training Program. His PhD thesis evaluated the relationship between trabecular bone structural morphology and material behavior. Since completing his residency training in orthopaedic surgery at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Snyder has forged collaboration between the Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital. This unique partnership has merged the sophisticated analytic techniques developed at the laboratory with the innovative diagnostic and surgical techniques developed at Children’s for treating musculoskeletal diseases.