Orthopaedic specialist heads society

Puzas

he Donald and Mary Clark Professor of Orthopaedics, J. Edward Puzas, has been elected president of the Orthopaedic Research Society, a 1,700-member national organization that seeks ways to improve the care of patients with musculoskeletal diseases and injuries.

Puzas, director of Strong's Osteoporosis Center, heads one of the world's foremost research groups on osteoporosis, a bone disease that affects more than 20 million people in the United States.

Puzas and his colleagues are studying the molecular signals that govern osteoporosis, a first step in a bid to slow and perhaps reverse the disease. Such research could also result in advances in hip and knee implants for people in need of artificial joints.

Puzas also directs research into ways to control the spread of bone cancer, since the disease is more likely to be fatal once it spreads. Puzas and his colleagues are looking for ways to protect the bone and lessen the ability of cancer cells to attach to bone and spread the disease.

A member of the University faculty for 21 years, Puzas is a part of the Center for Musculoskeletal Research, a group of three dozen researchers who focus on diseases like arthritis and bone cancer. He also holds faculty appointments in biochemistry, biomedical engineering, oncology, and pathology and laboratory medicine.

He has won several awards for his research, including the Kappa Delta Prize for Outstanding Orthopaedic Research and the Kroc Foundation Award for Excellence in Cartilage and Bone Research.

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