Osteoporosis Conference 2023 Speakers

Osteoporosis Conference 2023 will feature expert speakers from a variety of disciplines who will showcase the latest in research and advances in the diagnosis, treatment and management of patients. Below you will find our current speaker line up, with more names being added as we approach September.

Registration closed - on-demand registrations will reopen soon

Associate Prof M Kassim Javaid

Session: Management of 'imminent' fracture risk 

Convener: FLDBS Symposium 

Dr Javaid is an honorary consultant adult rheumatologist and Associate Professor in metabolic bone disease at the University of Oxford. He specializes in common and rare metabolic bone diseases. He is the clinical lead for Oxford Fracture Prevention Service, and the national Fracture Liaison Service Audit for England and Wales and co-chairs the Capture the Fracture programme. He is the clinical lead for the Oxford Rare bone disease service for adults and the Musculoskeletal Genomic Clinical Interpretation partnership. His research interests include the epidemiology of musculoskeletal diseases with a focus on rare bone disorders, vitamin D and secondary fracture prevention.

Dr Laurna Bullock

Chair

Dr Laurna Bullock is a mixed-methods Research Associate at Keele University, with a background in Health Psychology. Laurna is part the Keele Osteoporosis Research Group working as Associate Investigator on the iFraP (Improving uptake of Fracture Prevention drug treatments) trial and co-chief investigator on the INDEX (Improving understanding of bone Density (dXa) scans) study. Laurna's research interests span musculoskeletal health for older adults, shared decision-making, and dementia. 

Karen Barker
Chair

Karen Barker is Professor of Physiotherapy at the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS) at the University of Oxford. 

Karen held a number of clinical positions within London teaching hospitals before moving to Oxford and joining the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre. During this time Karen has worked in clinical posts, as a Smith & Nephew Research Fellow and as Head of Therapy Services.  She currently holds the posts of Consultant Physiotherapist and Head of Physiotherapy at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre. She is a visiting Professor at Oxford Brookes University. 

In 2013 she was awarded fellowship of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy and in 2020 an OBE in recognition of services to healthcare. She has a research interest in bone health, particularly vertebral fragility fractures; her other research interests are in chronic pain, qualitative research and the implementation of research findings into clinical practice. 

Zoe Paskins

Session: The power of (mis) communication in osteoporsis management

Zoe is an Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist in Stoke-on-Trent and Reader in Rheumatology at the Primary Care Centre Versus Arthritis at Keele University. She is Clinical Lead of the Midlands Metabolic Bone Centre (Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust) which includes the North Staffordshire Fracture Liaison and DXA service. She also leads the Keele osteoporosis research group with specific interests in primary care management of osteoporosis and clinician-patient communication, holding an NIHR Clinician Scientist Award to develop and evaluate a decision support tool in osteoporosis. She is past Chair of the Midlands Bone Interest Group, a member of the National Osteoporosis Guideline Group, Chair of the Musculoskeletal Disorders Research Advisory Group for Versus Arthritis and sits on various committees for the Royal Osteoporosis Society.  

Professor Joanne Protheroe

Session: Health literacy and shared decision making

Jo Protheroe has been a GP for over 20 years, has worked in various academic/research capacities, and was appointed Professor of General Practice in Keele Medical School in 2017. She leads the Academic GP Team, is Director of Undergraduate General Practice and the Director of Integrated Clinical Academic training for Keele. Her role as a GP fuel her interest in health literacy and patient participation in health, especially those in disadvantaged groups.  

She is a national expert in the field of Health Literacy, invited to present at conferences, and a member of the Scientific Committees of Health Literacy conferences in the US and Europe. She was awarded the Royal College of General Practice John Fry Award for promoting the discipline of general practice through research and publishing in 2018. She is the past Chair of Health Literacy UK and is an Honorary Health Literacy Clinical Advisor to NHS England 

Dr Jennifer Walsh PhD FRCP FHEA

Session: Investigating secondary causes for osteoporosis/Management of younger individuals

Dr Jennifer Walsh graduated from the University of Sheffield Medical School in 1997. She trained in Endocrinology and was awarded her PhD on Peak Bone Mass in 2008, funded by an ARUK Clinical Research Fellowship. 

She has published on peak bone mass, skeletal effects of hormonal contraception, late effects of cancer treatment, obesity and bone, vitamin D, and treatment of osteoporosis. 

Her clinical interests are in young adult endocrinology and bone disease. She is a member of the Brittle Bone Society Medical Board, and editor for Bone.  

Mary Elliott RN MSc PgCE  

Chair

Mary has published in peer-review journals and presented at national events in Europe. Mary chaired the West Sussex Fracture Prevention Forum for 3 years, has been an independent prescriber for 18 years and is a former visiting lecturer at Brighton University. 

In 2001 she was awarded ROS Osteoporosis Practice Nurse of the Year award. In 2013 Crawley FLS was shortlisted in the HSJ efficiency in community service delivery category and won an award in the British Society for Rheumatology Best Practice Service Awards.

For lockdown Mary set up the FLOW (Fracture Liaison on the Web) Webinars as a networking and educational tool to support colleagues. Up to 170 Fracture Prevention colleagues, (many lone-working due to the redeployment of colleagues) attending each session.  

Dr Sarah Hardcastle

Session: Romosozumab and cardiovascular risk

Dr Sarah Hardcastle has been a Consultant Rheumatologist at the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases in Bath since 2018. Clinically, she sees both general rheumatology and osteoporosis patients, and also runs a monthly metabolic bone disease clinic. She remains actively involved in bone disease research, having previously completed a PhD examining the relationship between osteoarthritis and extreme high bone mass.  

Alison Black

Session: Once for Scotland: Hip fracture audit

Alison is a Glasgow University graduate in medicine with an MD from Aberdeen University. She is a Consultant Rheumatologist in NHS Grampian with a special Interest in metabolic bone disease.

Alison chairs the Bone Interest Group of Scotland and is a member of the Scottish Hip fracture audit steering group and a member of ROS clinical committee.

Dr Louise Dolan

Chair

Dr Louise Dolan is a consultant rheumatologist with a special interest in osteoporosis. 
 
She founded the fracture liaison service and bone densitometry at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Woolwich, where she was previously consultant. She now practices at Blackheath BMI hospital. Dr Dolan was previously a trustee of the Royal Osteoporosis Society. 

Dr Fouz Rahmeh

Chair

Consultant rheumatologist: University Hospitals Dorset

After finishing her training through the Wessex rotation, Dr Fouz Rahmeh has spent the last 20 years working as a Rheumatologist.

Dr Rahmeh is the lead for: the fracture Liaison Service, the Dorset Osteoporosis service, the Young Adults service and a scientific adviser for Osteoporosis Dorset.

Dr Rahmeh provides outpatient and inpatient care for people with Rheumatic conditions, and runs special interest clinics, including connective tissue clinics, Osteoporosis clinics and Young adults clinics, as well as alongside the clinical work, Dr Fouz Rahmeh takes part in research, audits, teaching and Primary care education.

Having trained to perform ultrasound for some conditions, she now uses the US machine we have in the department to help in diagnosis and treatment.

Her clinical interests are: Osteoporosis, Connective tissue diseases, Inflammatory arthritis including rheumatoid arthritis.

Professor Terence O’Neill

Session: New consensus guidance practice points

Professor Terence O’Neill is Professor of Rheumatology and Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Manchester & Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist at Salford Royal Foundation NHS Trust. He trained in Medicine at Trinity College Dublin and Rheumatology at Bath and Manchester. He was clinical training fellow at the Arthritis Research UK Epidemiology Unit in Manchester where his research focused on the epidemiology of osteoporosis and vertebral fractures. He is a past Trustee and also chair of the clinical and scientific committee of the Royal Osteoporosis Society. His current research interests include clinical studies of osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and musculoskeletal frailty.   

Ailsa Welch

Session: Clinical relevance of micronutrients on muscle and bone

Ailsa Welch is a Professor of Nutritional Epidemiology leading research into the effects of nutrition on aging, based at Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia. A particular focus is on understanding the protective factors in diet for musculoskeletal health, sarcopenia, osteoporosis, fractures, and frailty. Ailsa’s research aims to understand the effects of micronutrients (vitamins & minerals) and diet quality (dietary patterns, fatty acids, protein & acid-base load) on musculoskeletal and cardiovascular health. More recent research is in developing proxy measures for identifying malnutrition in large health care databases with the aim of earlier identification of malnutrition in populations.

Ailsa leads or chairs a number of committees and chaired the ‘Nutrition & Lifestyle Forum’ and was a member of the ‘Clinical Scientific Committee' of The Royal Osteoporosis Society (2013-2019). She is a member of the National Malnutrition Task Force, and of the management group of the Norwich Epidemiology Centre. Ailsa is a State Registered Dietitian.

Prior to joining UEA, in 2007, Ailsa was based at the University of Cambridge where she developed dietary assessment methodologies and nutritional biomarkers for the European Prospective Investigations into Cancer and Nutrition Study. She also worked at the Royal Society of Chemistry compiling the UK food composition databases and was at King’s College London, based in Somalia and Nigeria.

Ailsa has 221 peer-reviewed published journal articles. Citations: 21, 596. h-index: 82 (Scopus 2023) Top 1% world researcher (Thompson Reuters, 2014).

Professor Alex Comninos

Chair

Professor Alex Comninos heads the Endocrine Bone Unit at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust which is an SfE Bone & Mineral Centre, Paget’s Disease Centre of Excellence and an NHS England Rare Disease Collaborative Centre. In addition, he set-up and is clinical lead for the nationally-leading Imperial Fracture Liaison Service. He is particularly interested in reproductive endocrinology and its links with bones and behaviour, and has authored over 80 full research publications in top journals including The Lancet, Cell, Journal of Clinical Investigation and JAMA Network Open. In addition, he has presented his work at leading international conferences and won several prestigious international prizes. His research has attracted extensive media attention and has been supported by the NIHR, MRC and Wellcome Trust. 

Eleni Kariki

Session: Bone health in transgender

Eleni Kariki (Elena, she/they) is a medical doctor graduated from Semmelweis University in Hungary. She specializes in clinical radiology, healthcare informatics and patient safety research and practice. Her interests include endocrine and metabolic diseases. She is currently a lecturer of diagnostic imaging at Keele University. 

Elena’s work around osteoporosis spans the academic and clinical spectra; they have served as the clinical lead of the bone densitometry and DXA services of the largest National Health System Trust in the UK, offering bone health assessment care to children and adults and teach DXA reporting to postgraduate students in the UK. Elena is a member of the Bone Densitometry Accreditation Committee of the Royal Osteoporosis Society, of the Osteoporosis subcommittee of the European Society of Musculoskeletal Radiology, of the ROS College of Experts and they are a Board Member of the International Society for Bone Densitometry.

Elena is also a member of the Faculty of Healthcare Informatics and of the Academy of Medical Educators. She is regularly consulted as a subject matter expert in radiology osteoporosis services and the development and implementation of relevant artificial intelligence projects. She currently works on her postgraduate research project on understanding how we learn about and how to practice patient safety. 

Dr Nicola Peel DM FRCP 

Session: Understanding BMD and DXA measurements/Abstract commendation awards & The Cyrus Cooper Award for research, quality and innovation/Chair

Consultant and Honorary Senior Lecturer, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Visiting Professor, University of Derby.

I have a background in rheumatology and have worked as Consultant in Metabolic Bone Medicine in Sheffield for over 20 years. My academic interests include evaluation and clinical application of tests used in the diagnosis and management of bone disease. As clinical lead for the Sheffield service between 2002 and 2019, I was instrumental in developing and evaluating innovative models of service delivery. These include a one-stop fracture risk assessment service incorporating vertebral fracture assessment scans and the use of biochemical markers of bone turnover to monitor osteoporosis treatment in primary care.  

I am a trustee of the Royal Osteoporosis Society and currently chair the ROS Clinical and Research Committee.  

Dr Matthew Grove BSc FRCP

Session: Overview of treatment options

Dr Matthew Grove is a consultant Physician and Rheumatologist at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. Many years ago - when freshly appointed to his post - he made the mistake of merrily agreeing to run the trust’s DEXA scanner (left orphaned by the departure of a geriatrician) without first asking where the funding stream for the service came from. Somewhat older and wiser (and funding streams secured) he has led a working group for the North East and North Cumbria ICB intent on implementing the 2022 NOGG guidelines across the region. In his spare time, he enjoys trying to photograph dragonflies. 

Elaine Dennison

Session: Bone health in inflammatory conditions

Professor Elaine Dennison is Professor of Musculoskeletal Epidemiology and Honorary Consultant in Rheumatology within Medicine at the University of Southampton. Having worked as a Principal Investigator of the Hertfordshire Cohort Study for many years, her research interest centres around musculoskeletal aging. Based at the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre, she is particularly interested in how events early in life interact with adult lifestyle factors to determine how we age. Professor Dennison is author of over 420 journal articles. 

Andrew Gray

Chair

Mr. Andrew Gray is an experienced Consultant Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgeon. He completed his medical and orthopaedic surgical training in Glasgow and Edinburgh, followed by a year-long fellowship in Calgary focused specifically on trauma surgery.  

He was the clinical director for the trauma and orthopaedic department in the South Tees NHS Trust 2018-2021. He is an active member of the Orthopaedic Trauma Society and the Fragility Fracture Network. 

Between 2014 and 2021, Mr. Gray was the Lower limb editor for the trauma journal 'Injury'; he has also published a number of peer-reviewed articles over the past 15 years. Mr. Gray teaches regularly, both nationally and as faculty for AO courses. His qualifications include a Doctorate in medicine with distinction from the University of Edinburgh, and first class honours Physiology & Sports Science BSc and Medical degrees from Glasgow University. 

Mr. Gray is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons for Trauma and Orthopaedics. He is also a member of the British Orthopaedic Association. 

Rehana Ismail

Session: My voice matters

Rehana was diagnosed with osteoporosis in November 2019 and is currently a member of the community advocate network and an individual volunteer for the ROS. 

However, Rehana is not new to volunteering having started her volunteering career twenty years ago supporting the community in family stability both in the UK and abroad. 

She has received recognition and awards in the past for her work - September 2021, Ambassador of Peace Award by the Women’s World Federation for Peace and in Summer 2022, a platinum award from the Social Unity Foundation for her positive contribution to society in Birmingham. 

Rehana is passionate about osteoporosis awareness and organised an event in January 2023 at the Al Abbasi Centre in Birmingham and has reached out to the community in Manchester to hold the osteoporosis awareness in autumn. 

She has been involved in the APPG in May 2023 and is hoping to join the ROS webinar seminar to explore cultural beliefs and food choices for bone health in the future. 

Rehana hopes to continue to organise awareness events for the community. 

Richard Eastell BSc (Hons), MBChB, MD (Edin), FRCP (London, Edin), FRCPI (Hon), FRCPath, FMedSci

Session: Making best use of bone turnover markers

Professor of Bone Metabolism and Director of the Mellanby Centre for Musculoskeletal Research at the University of Sheffield.

Richard qualified in medicine from Edinburgh in 1977. He trained in endocrinology in Edinburgh, Northwick Park and at the Mayo Clinic (Dr B L Riggs). He leads a research group on the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis; of particular note is his contribution to the use of bone turnover markers and the development of treatments for osteoporosis. He was Secretary and President of the Bone Research Society as well as President of the European Calcified Tissue Society. He is an NIHR Senior Investigator (Emeritus). His work has been recognised by the Philippe Bordier Award (2012) (European Calcified Tissue Society), Frederic C Bartter Award 2014 (American Society for Bone and Mineral Research), Kohn and Linda Edwards Awards from the Royal Osteoporosis Society (2004, 2018), the Clinical Endocrinology Trust Award from the European Society for Endocrinology (2020) and the Dent Lecturer from the Bone Research Society (2021).

Professor Neil Gittoes BSc MBChB PhD FRCP

Session: Linda Edwards Award presentation, Close/Chair

Head, Centre for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Consultant Endocrinologist and Honorary Professor of Endocrinology.

Professor Neil Gittoes is Consultant and Honorary Professor of Endocrinology at the University of Birmingham and he is Head of the Centre of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism (CEDAM). He leads the metabolic bone diseases unit in Birmingham, and a number of national work streams through the Royal Osteoporosis Society as Chair of the Board of Trustees and as National Clinical Lead for Specialised Endocrinology, NHSEI. Neil is member of the National Osteoporosis Guideline Group (NOGG); he works with NICE and was Clinical Lead for NICE Guideline on Primary Hyperparathyroidism (NG132) and instigated Rapid Evidence Summary for vitamin D in COVID-19 (ES28). He is member and co-chair of the International Taskforce and European PARAT programme on parathyroid disorders. He was honoured by the Royal College of Physicians and made Goulstonian Lecturer for his contributions to clinical research. He has published more than 150 papers, reviews and chapters across endocrinology, focussing on bone and mineral metabolism. His clinical research interests include models of fracture prevention, rare causes of fracture susceptibility and disorders of calcium homeostasis.

Celia Gregson

Session: Hip fracture: equity in care/Fixing hip fracture organisation for better patient outcomes

Celia Gregson is a Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the Musculoskeletal Research Unit, University of Bristol, an Honorary Consultant Orthogeriatrician at the Royal United Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Bath in the UK and a Senior Scientist at The Health Research Unit Zimbabwe. Her research spans the epidemiology of fractures, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and sarcopenia, including in sub-Saharan Africa, health service research particularly in relation to hip fracture care and the genetic epidemiology of extremes of bone density. She chairs the National Osteoporosis Guideline Group in the UK and sits on the Royal College of Physicians Falls and Fragility Fracture Audit Programme Scientific and Publications Committee. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London.  

Emily Rose-Parfitt

Session: Advanced and consultant AHP and Nursing practice- MDT working

Emily Rose-Parfitt is a Rheumatology Consultant Pharmacist, credentialed with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.  She is a non-medical prescriber in Rheumatology outpatient clinics, starting and reviewing patients on biologic and targeted synthetic disease modifying therapy and reviewing patients with early inflammatory arthritis, other inflammatory arthritides and connective tissue disease and vasculitis.   

She is Lead Prescriber of North Bristol NHS Trust, where she is based, chairing Medicines Governance Group and representing all secondary care specialties across the ICS.  

Emily is a member of the BSR Clinical Affairs Committee, BSR Quality Review Scheme Accreditation Review Panel and BSR Pharmacist Focus Group.  

Emily was a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Consultant Pharmacist Curriculum Development Group.  She is a Rheumatology Pharmacists UK committee member, teaches on the University of Bath’s MPharm Pharmacy Practice module and is Program Guardian for the Centre for Postgraduate Pharmacy Education’s GP pharmacist rheumatology training module.   

Emily has a passion for developing innovative, high-quality, patient-led services and sharing medicines optimisation best practice across boundaries.

Jill Griffin 

Session: Fixing hip fracture organisation for better patient outcomes/Chair

Jill Griffin DCR (R), qualified in 1993 from Bristol School of Radiography and specialised in Bone Densitometry (DXA) and MRI, with a special interest in spinal imaging. Leading the Healthy Bones Service as Consultant Radiographer and clinical lead role in Plymouth for many years, Jill developed and promoted quality improvements in DXA scanning and managed the regions award winning mobile DXA scanning service. 

Jill has been engaged with the Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS) for over a decade as a clinical expert and held the position of Chair of the National Training Scheme for Bone Densitometry. 

After a 2 year secondment to the ROS, Jill was appointed as Clinical Lead for Vertebral Fractures and Professional Development in 2020 and subsequently as Head of Clinical Engagement and is responsible for overseeing delivery of health professional education and development, clinical guidance and conference as well as supporting policy and public affairs, communications and service improvement elements of the ROS strategy.  

Jill was co-author on the Charity’s Clinical Guidance for effective vertebral fracture identification, Reporting of DXA in adult fracture risk assessment and Management of symptomatic vertebral fragility fractures. 

Jonathan Tobias

Session: ROS research grants programme - getting to a yes

Jonathan Tobias is Professor of Rheumatology at the University of Bristol, UK, and Consultant Rheumatologist at North Bristol Trust. Following undergraduate studies in medicine at Cambridge University and London University from where he qualified in 1984, he completed MD and PhD theses in bone biology in 1990 and 1994, at St George’s Hospital in London. He was appointed as Consultant Senior Lecturer at the University of Bristol in 1995, and promoted to a personal chair in 2008. He manages a diverse research programme into the causes and treatment of musculoskeletal conditions, particularly osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.

He also has extensive clinical experience in treating patients with osteoporosis, and in running DXA-based osteoporosis diagnostic services. He has served on the editorial boards of Calcified Tissue International, Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, and Rheumatology, the Heberden committee of the British Society for Rheumatology, the research committee of Arthritis Research UK, NICE appraisal and guideline committees, and the Medicines for Women’s Health Expert Advisory Group of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. He is past President of the UK Bone Research Society (2010-12), and currently Specialty Chief Editor of the Bone Research section of Frontiers in Endocrinology, and chair of the Royal Osteoporosis Society Research and Innovation Grants Assessment Panel.

Rosemary Hollick

Session: Implementing Romosozumab in clinical practice- the Scotland experience/Vertebral fractures- within and without FLS

Rosemary is an Academic Rheumatologist at the University of Aberdeen where she leads an interdisciplinary programme of health services research in rheumatic and musculoskeletal conditions. This brings together patients, clinicians, researchers, and decision makers, and combines several different approaches: routine health care data and health informatics, epidemiology, and qualitative methods, with an emphasis on patient and public involvement and co-design.  

Rosemary has a particular interest in geographical inequalities in access to care and outcomes and service delivery in rare diseases. She led work to improve access to fracture prevention services to rural communities and is a member of the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) osteoporosis committee, Bone Interest Group of Scotland, and national Fracture Liaison Service audit steering group (Scotland). 

Mette Friberg Hitz

Session: Equity - improving access to self management

Mette Friberg Hitz is founder of the former National Research Center for Bone Health in Denmark, She is a specialist in Endocrinology, PhD and Associate Professor at the Institute of Clinical Medicine at University of Copenhagen.  

She has been working with osteoporosis in the clinic and in clinical research throughout her whole career.  

Recently her focus has been on patient education and health technology.  

Kate Ward

Session: International perspectives on nutrition in bone health

Kate is Professor of Global Musculoskeletal Health at MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at MRC Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She co-leads the Sub-Saharan Africa Musculoskeletal Network which focusses on capacity building for musculoskeletal research.  Her research programme focusses on how to achieve and maintain functional ability to ensure healthy musculoskeletal ageing in Africa and the UK. Kate is PI of an MRC funded project across The Gambia Zimbabwe and South Africa. The work is embedded in Fractures-E3, a Welcome-NIHR Global Partnership, in which Kate is CoPI of The Gambia work and lead of the work package on a community-based study of healthy ageing across the three countries. Kate is President of the UK Bone Research Society and a member of the International Osteoporosis Foundation Committee for Scientific Advisors. 

Dr M Vindlacheruvu

Session: Management in the frail older adult and cognitively impaired/Bone Health in the frail older adult

Dr Madhavi Vindlacheruvu graduated and trained in general medicine and geriatric medicine in Cambridge.  She was appointed as the first consultant ortho-geriatrician in Addenbrookes hospital, Cambridge in June 2006. She is the clinical lead for ortho-geriatrics and has developed the service over the last 17 years. Her clinical work involves optimisation of patients aged 60 and older with fragility fractures prior to emergency orthopaedic surgery, medication reviews, assessment and modification of risk factors for falls and osteoporosis and proactive discharge planning. She is actively involved in the teaching and training of postgraduate medical staff, undergraduates, nurses and other professions allied to medicine. The holistic and person-centered approach of geriatric medicine allows her to understand the complexity of older patients and the fact that there is no ‘typical’ patient. She is the Trust lead for the National Hip Fracture Database and Fracture Liaison Service and is passionate about improving bone health in all patients through education, lifestyle changes and pharmacological treatment.  

Dr Euguene McCloskey

Session: Estimating fracture risk: FRAX+

Eugene McCloskey is Professor in Adult Bone Diseases in the Academic Unit of Bone Metabolism and Mellanby Centre for Musculoskeletal Research at the University of Sheffield, and is current Director of the MRC Versus Arthritis Centre for Integrated research in Musculoskeletal Ageing (CIMA).   

In addition to clinical work, he has a long-standing research career in bone health ranging from malignancy and bone (e.g. breast cancer, multiple myeloma), through research technologies (e.g. broadband ultrasound attenuation, vertebral fracture definition) to epidemiology and the development of clinical tools and guidelines. He contributed to the development of the FRAX tool and validation and enhancement of the FRAX tool remains the primary focus of his research work. The online version of FRAX processes approximately 3 million fracture risk calculations per annum and provides tools that cover approximately 85% of the global population. In 2016, he was awarded the IOF Medal of Achievement, presented annually to recognise an individual researcher who has significantly advanced the field of osteoporosis through original and outstanding scientific contributions. In 2018, he was honoured with the ECTS Philippe Bordier Award for a significant clinical contribution to the field of bone and calcified tissue.  

Preeshila Behary

Chair

Preeshila is a consultant endocrinologist with a special interest in metabolic bone medicine. She covers weekly clinics at the bone unit at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, which is an SfE Bone & Mineral Centre, Paget’s Disease Centre of Excellence and an NHS England Rare Disease Collaborative Centre. Preeshila’s research interests and publications are centered on the role of gut hormones in energy balance and bone metabolism. She is also interested in undergraduate education and leads the clinical skills teaching for Year 1 & 2 medical students at Imperial College London. 

Professor Michael Stone BA, MBBS, DM, FRCP

Chair

Dr Michael Stone is a Consultant Physician in Cardiff and Lead Clinician for adult Metabolic Bone Disease. He heads a long-established Fracture Liaison Service, four Bone Clinics each week and the Denosumab Self Injection Program. He is also Director of the Bone Research Unit at University Hospital Llandough with research interests that include: the bisphosphonate acute phase response, bone loss in patients with respiratory disease, the use of high dose vitamin D in the frail elderly and the use of AI for vertebral fractures. He is Chairman of the Wales Osteoporosis Advisory Group, a member of the UK National Osteoporosis Guidelines Group, Clinical Committee of the Royal Osteoporosis Society and Royal College of Physicians Fracture Liaison Service Database Advisory Group. He is Visiting Professor to the School of Health at the University of South Wales.

Dr Owen Williams OBE 

Session: Healthcare inequities - a population health issue

Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, Group Chief Executive 

Owen started in post as Chief Executive of the NCA FT in November 2021. Prior to this appointment, he was Chief Executive of Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (CHFT), a position which he has held since 2012. In 2020 he was granted the degree of Doctor of Business Administration by the University of Huddersfield following the successful completion of his thesis which commenced 6 years previously in 2014. In the 2019 New Year’s Honours list he was awarded an OBE for service to health care across West Yorkshire and was asked to lead a National piece of work across the NHS in England with regards to reducing Health Inequalities. He was previously Vice Chair of the NHS Confederation and prior to joining the NHS he has worked across local government including two roles as Chief Executive at Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council and Rossendale District Borough Council. Before working in the Public Sector, he worked in commercial business including his first employment at the Yorkshire Building Society. He is passionate about reducing health inequality and ensuring that no communities - regardless of race, colour or creed - get left behind. 

Emma Clark

Session: Vertebral fractures- who to x-ray/Chair

Convener: Working with patients for safe spinal movement- practical tips

Emma Clark is a Professor of Clinical Musculoskeletal Epidemiology at the University of Bristol, and an Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist at North Bristol NHS Trust. She is Deputy Head of Bristol Medical School, and Head of Translational Health Research within the School. Emma leads two programmes of research (osteoporotic vertebral fractures and scoliosis), and is Co-Lead for the Staff Training and Development theme in the Bristol Research Centre. She supervises pre-doctoral and doctoral research students, and enjoys mentoring at all levels. As a Consultant Rheumatologist she leads a large outpatient general rheumatology service with a special interest in osteoporosis, and teaches clinical rheumatology to undergraduate medical students, qualified doctors and allied healthcare professionals, nationally and internationally. Emma is regularly invited to speak nationally and internationally on her research programmes, and has been appointed to various national bodies including the Clinical and Scientific Advisory Board of the Royal Osteoporosis Society, the Musculoskeletal Research Advisory Group for Versus Arthritis, and NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme research panels. She examines for higher degrees internally and externally. She is an active Associate Editor for the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research Plus and for Rheumatology. 

Karen Knapp

Chair

Convenor: Advanced and consultant AHP and Nursing practice- MDT working/DXA- quality reporting

Karen Knapp is an Associate Professor in Musculoskeletal Imaging and Head of the Department of Health and Care Professions in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at the University of Exeter, UK. Karen has spent more than 20 years researching in the field of osteoporosis and new diagnostic techniques and has received in excess of £2.5M in research funding as principal or co-investigator.  Karen has published 68 original research articles, 14 invited papers and editorials, in excess of 100 conference abstracts and has undertaken 35 conference presentations as an invited speaker. Karen has supervised 10 PhD students to successful completion and is currently supervising 10 PhD students. Combining a passion for research and education with her clinical background, Karen utilises research-led teaching to inspire students. With a background in teaching undergraduate and post-graduate students from master’s through to professional doctorates and supervising PhD students, Karen is keen to engage at all levels of higher education. Karen is chair of the bone Densitometry Training and Accreditation panel for the Royal Osteoporosis Society, Chair of the Research Committee for the European Federation of Radiographer Societies and led the new Education and Career Framework for the Society and College of Radiographers as chair of the panel.   

Cyrus Cooper OBE, DL, FMedSci

Session: Linda Edwards presentation & memorial lecture

Until March 2023, Professor Cyrus Cooper was Professor of Rheumatology and Director of the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre; Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton; and Professor of Musculoskeletal Science at the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford.

He leads an internationally competitive programme of research into the epidemiology of musculoskeletal disorders, most notably osteoporosis.

He is President of the International Osteoporosis Foundation; has been Chair of the BHF Project Grants Committee; an emeritus NIHR Senior Investigator; and Associate Editor of Osteoporosis International. He has previously served as Chairman of the Scientific Advisors Committee, International Osteoporosis Foundation; Chairman, MRC Population Health Sciences Research Network; Chairman of the National Osteoporosis Society of Great Britain; past-President of the Bone Research Society of Great Britain; and has worked on numerous Department of Health, European Community and World Health Organisation committees and working groups.

He has published extensively (over 1200 research papers; hi=218) on osteoporosis and rheumatic disorders and pioneered clinical studies on the developmental origins of peak bone mass. In 2010 he was recipient of the ROS Duchess of Cornwall Award for research into osteoporosis, just one of many such honours over the last 20 years. In 2015, he was awarded an OBE for services to medical research.

Katherine Brooke-Wavell

Convenor: The exercise prescription

Katherine is based in the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Loughborough University, and National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine East Midlands Hub. Katherine’s research focusses primarily on the effects of exercise and other lifestyle factors on bone and joint health. She has led a number of exercise interventions, ranging from studies of bone health and stress fracture in elite athletes, randomised controlled trials of high impact exercise, resistance training and brisk walking in middle aged and older adults, to research on effectiveness of fall prevention exercise and whole body vibration training in older people. Outcomes studied include bone mineral density and structural parameters, joint pathology and cartilage properties by MRI, bone and cartilage turnover, fall risk factors as well as body composition, physical function and broader health outcomes e.g. cardiovascular risk factors. 

Dorte With

Convenor: Working with patients for safe spinal movement- practical tips

Dorte is a Physiotherapist with experience from all sectors and a Master’s in Health Education. She works in clinical practice at the National Research Centre for Bone Health in Denmark. Since 2018 she has been a member of the Danish Osteoporosis Health Board and has participated in the expert panel at the Danish Health Authority. In 2019 she initiated and developed a 3-day course for physiotherapists along with Emma Clark and others to promote a holistic and appropriate musculoskeletal approach to patients with osteoporosis. Dorte’s particular focus is to train physiotherapists, other healthcare professionals and patients to feel safe when carrying out physical activity at all functional levels. She promotes individualization and supervision as to HOW the patient can stay physically active: one size does not fit all when diagnosed with osteoporosis. In Denmark, Strong-Steady and Straight has been modified to suit Denmark and to address level of function, fracture risk and safety. See how she does this at the workshop! 

Professor Richard Keen

Session: Managing eGFR and bone

Professor Richard Keen is a Consultant Rheumatologist at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore. Whilst completing his general professional training in London he developed his specialist interest in osteoporosis and other rarer metabolic bone diseases. He and his clinical team provide multidisciplinary care to patients with a wide range of bone diseases, both regionally and nationally. Professor Keen continues to be involved with research looking at improved treatments for osteoporosis, but he also works to improve NHS care pathways to enable patients access to current drugs.