OARSI Weekly Briefing - August 27, 2021 | Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI)

Welcome to the OARSI Weekly Briefing - the single resource you need to stay up to date with OARSI & World Congress news, membership announcements, and happenings within the OARSI & OA community.

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Board of Directors Call for Nominations

The deadline to submit a nomination application for the OARSI Board of Directors is Tuesday, August 31st. The position is for a 4-year term beginning in May 2022. The Board requires members whose backgrounds, skills, and experience match the OARSI mission and its current and future needs. Service on the OARSI board demands a considerable commitment of time and talent to advance the goals and objectives of the organization. To learn more about the process and submit an application, please click HERE.

Member Spotlight: David Hunter

Over the course of the next few weeks we will spotlight the past Clinical Research Award Winners. This week's Member Spotlight is 2019 winner, David Hunter.

How long have you been a member of OARSI and why did you join?

I joined in the year 2000, shortly after commencing my PhD and attended an amazing meeting in Barcelona. At the time, I was doing research on twins looking at the genetics of osteoarthritis and I was fortunate enough to receive a Young Investigator award to attend the meeting to give an oral presentation. I have attended every year since (except curiously Sydney in 2002, having just moved to Boston). I joined because the main focus of my research was osteoarthritis and this is the leading international forum to present your work, share ideas, network and collaborate. To this day, no meeting has come close to providing a vehicle for those activities in the osteoarthritis field.

What do you enjoy most about OARSI?

This is a wonderfully collegial community-the size of the society makes it such that you get to know many members and engage with them over many years. It’s a wonderfully friendly community and the meetings provide a great forum for networking, fostering collaborations and generating new hypotheses to test. The society is supportive of a wide stream of research pursuits (allowing someone with a wide variety of interests (aka short concentration span) enough food for thought) and the development of the next generation-both aspects are incredibly important to me.

Tell us a little bit about your research?

My broad area of focus is clinical and translational research in osteoarthritis. I am fortunate to lead an amazing team at the Institute of Bone and Joint Research at the University of Sydney dedicated to improving our understanding of osteoarthritis and the quality of life for those who suffer from this prevalent disabling disease. This includes epidemiologic research, biomarker (with a particular focus on development, validation and qualification of imaging), clinical trials (including trials to impact disease prevention, disease progression (numerous DMOADs) and symptoms), health services research (looking at ways we can improve the care for those that have osteoarthritis and novel methods of delivery) as well as an increasing amount of time spent on advocacy and policy.

What does winning the Clinical Research Award mean to you?

I am incredibly humbled and honoured to receive this award. The names of those that have received the award before are literally the Who’s Who of clinical research in osteoarthritis. To me, the award reflects affirmation of the work that my wonderful team does and the tremendous collaborators that I have had the good fortune to work with. It also reflects the tenacious memory of my colleagues that nominated me for this award- the year before receiving the award, they said they wanted to nominate me then forgot to do so. All good, they remembered the following year!

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

I love spending time with family, friends. As someone who grew up in the outdoors, I very much enjoy communing with nature, particularly bushwalking. I also enjoy taking up new pursuits to learn the limits of my old skeleton, including activities like mountain biking, body surfing and kayaking. Massive sports fan-particularly enjoyed the recent Olympics but have been known to support the All Blacks, Sydney Kings, teams my kids play in and anybody playing England.

International Foot and Ankle OA Consortium Discussion Group

The International Foot and Ankle OA Consortium Discussion Group was established in January 2019 and endorsed by OARSI as a Discussion Group in May 2019 at the OARSI World Congress in Toronto. The group brings together a network of clinicians, scientists, and other health professionals/key stakeholders who share a common interest in foot and ankle OA. Its aim is to drive the research agenda related to OA setting research priorities in foot and ankle OA to maximize progress and impact that will ultimately improve outcomes for people with OA. A secondary aim is that the foot and ankle could also be viewed as an untapped ‘case study’ into OA research, that if given more focused and collaborative attention internationally may provide some additional insights into the aetiopathogenesis of OA in general.

OARSI members can log in to their profile and select the Discussion Group(s) that they would like to join. By updating your profile with your Discussion Group preferences, we will be able to send targeted emails to each Discussion Group and maintain an official roster for each group. To update your profile, follow these steps.

Log in to OARSI.org
Click on the menu button in the top left of the screen
Select ‘My Profile’
Select ‘Edit'
Select the ‘My Account’ tab
Scroll to Discussion Groups and select your group(s)

OARSI Live Call for Presenters

The OARSI Live webinar series is currently on hiatus and will resume this fall. We are looking to schedule our fall program and are seeking webinar presenters. If you would like to present on an OARSI Live webinar, please contact Vincenzo Nelli with a brief summary of your proposed presentation.

OARSI Connect '21 Recordings

Did you know that all of the recorded sessions from OARSI Connect ‘21 are available to registered attendees through April 2022!? If you missed a session because you attended another session or it occurred at a time that was inconvenient for you, you can view it by logging into the virtual meeting website. Just navigate to the Agenda page and select the session(s) you want to view.

If you missed OARSI Connect ‘21, you can still register and have access to the recordings. It simple, just register HERE.

Important Dates & Upcoming Deadlines

2021 Membership Dues: Be sure to renew your OARSI dues. Renew Now.
August 31, 2021 - Call for Board of Director Nominations Deadline
April 6 - 10, 2022 - OARSI World Congress in Berlin, Germany

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OARSI Weekly Briefing - August 27, 2021