Principles of Bone Biology

Dr. Bilezikian, Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University is the Chief of the Division of Endocrinology and Director of the Metabolic Bone Diseases Program at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. He also serves as Associate Chair, Department of Medicine. Dr. Bilezikian received his undergraduate training at Harvard College and his medical training at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. He completed four years of house staff training (internship and residency) including the Chief Medical Residency of the Medical Service at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. Dr. Bilezikian received his training in Metabolic Bone Diseases and in Endocrinology at the NIH where he served as a Clinical Associate in the Mineral Metabolism Branch under the tutelage of Dr. Gerald Aurbach. Dr. Bilezikian belongs to a number of professional societies, including the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, of which he served as President in 1996. He is a member of the Endocrine Society, the American Federation for Clinical Research, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, and the International Society of Clinical Densitometry, of which he is President. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. His books include Editor-in-Chief of The Parathyroids (1994), and co-editor of Principles of Bone Biology (1996), The Aging Skeleton (1999), and Dynamics of Bone and Cartilage Metabolism (1999). He has been on numerous panels, including serving as Chair of the NIH Consensus Development Panel on Optimal Calcium Intake, and the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences. He is a major national and international spokesperson for the field of metabolic bone diseases. Dr. Bilezikian's major research interests are related to the clinical investigation of metabolic bone diseases, particularly osteoporosis and primary hyperparathyroidism. His is the recipient of the Distinguished Physician Award of the Endocrine Society and of the Frederic C. Bartter Award of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research for Excellence in the Clinical Research. He also has an active laboratory program in the biochemical mechanisms of the hormones that regulate calcium metabolism. His publications, which number of 350, speak to his active original investigative initiatives as well as his demand as an author of many reference sources of endocrinology and metabolic bone diseases. Dr. Raisz is Professor of Medicine and Program Director of the General Clinical Research Center at the University of Connecticut Health Center. He has been carrying out laboratory and clinical studies in the field of osteoporosis and bone metabolism for over 40 years. He has mentored a large number of investigators in these areas both here at the University of Connecticut and previously at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. His current studies include an analysis of the effects of estrogen and androgen on the expression of cytokines and growth factors in bone, which is being carried out in both humans and animal models, studies of the role of prostaglandins in bone metabolism using transgenic mice, studies on the effects of progestins on bone turnover in postmenopausal women and tissue culture and animal studies on new antiresorptive and anabolic agents carried out in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Rodan graduated from the Hebrew University Medical School (Jerusalem) in 1965, had two years residency in oncology and obtained a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1970 from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. In 1970, he joined the University of Connecticut, where he became chairman of the Department of Oral Biology in 1978. In 1985, he was recruited by Merck to head the Department of Bone Biology and Osteoporosis Research and, since 1986, holds a joint appointment at the University of Pennsylvania as Adjunct Professor of Pathology. The scientific contributions of Dr. Rodan and his colleagues include: establishment and characterization of osteoblastic cell lines in culture, which helped define the osteoblastic phenotype, the sequential expression of phenotypic genes, the interaction between osteoblasts and osteoclasts, and the development of a sensitive parathyroid hormone bioassay, which eventually led to the purification of parathyroid hormone-related peptide; other contributions include bone cell responses to mechanical stimuli and the role of prostaglandin E in that process. At Merck, Dr. Rodan initiated the effort which led to the development of the osteoporosis drug Fosamax and contributed to the understanding of the mode of action of bisphosphonates. Dr. Rodan has served on NIH study sections, council and other advisory panels; he has been an Associate Editor of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, is currently Associate Editor of Bone, and member of several editorial boards. Dr. Rodan has been council member, program chairman and president of ASBMR; member of the Board of Directors of the National Osteoporosis Foundation and is currently president elect of the International Bone and Mineral Society. Dr. Rodan is the recipient of the Kennedy prize from the Weizmann Institute of science, the Neuman prize from the ASBMR, the Pioneer Award of the National Osteoporosis Foundation and the Goldhaber award of Harvard School of Dental Medicine.