David T. Felson, MD, MPH

Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. David Felson's research interests include: understanding how to prevent osteoarthritis and treat osteoarthritis. In osteoarthritis, Dr. Felson’s interests include studying whether treatments for rheumatic diseases are effective and particularly in osteoarthritis, identifying biomechanical risk factors for disease and testing biomechanical treatments and characterizing MRI features of normal knees and knees with pain. He also studies outcome measurement in rheumatic disease and has focused in this work on rheumatoid arthritis trials.

Publications

  • Published 2/13/2026

    Bacon KL, Felson DT, Jafarzadeh SR, Hausdorff JM, Gazit E, Guermazi A, Roemer FW, Segal NA, Lewis CE, Nevitt MC, Kumar D. Association of Wearable Sensor-Derived Gait Measures With Cartilage Damage Over Two Years Among Adults With or at Risk of Knee Osteoarthritis. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2026 Feb 13. PMID: 41685951.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/26/2026

    Holden MA, Nicholls E, Abdali Z, Birrell F, Borrelli B, Callaghan M, Dziedzic K, Felson D, Foster NE, Halliday N, Ingram C, Jinks C, Jowett S, Peat G. Provision of knee bracing for knee osteoarthritis (PROP OA): multicentre, parallel group, superiority, statistician blinded, randomised controlled trial. BMJ. 2026 Jan 26; 392:e086005. PMID: 41587822.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/15/2026

    Tang J, Boel F, van Buuren MM, Riedstra NS, van den Berg MA, Ahedi H, Arden NK, Bierma-Zeinstra SMA, Boer CG, Cicutini F, Cootes T, Crossley KM, Felson DT, Gielis WP, Heerey JJ, Jones G, Kluzek S, Lane NE, Lindner C, Lynch JA, van Meurs J, Mosler AB, Nelson AE, Nevitt M, Oei EHG, Runhaar J, Weinans H, Agricola R. Cam morphology and the risk of developing radiographic hip osteoarthritis within 8 years: an individual participant data meta-analysis of 23 886 hips from the world COACH consortium. Br J Sports Med. 2026 Jan 15; 60(1):28-35. PMID: 41314784.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/14/2026

    van den Berg MA, Boel F, van Buuren MMA, Riedstra NS, Tang J, Ahedi H, Arden NK, Bierma-Zeinstra SMA, Boer CG, Cicuttini FM, Cootes TF, Felson DT, Gielis WP, Heerey J, Jones G, Kluzek S, Lane NE, Lindner C, van Meurs JBJ, Mosler A, Nelson AE, Nevitt MC, Oei EH, Runhaar J, Weinans H, Krijthe JH, Agricola R. Hip Morphology-Based Osteoarthritis Risk Prediction Models: Development and External Validation Using Individual Participant Data From the World COACH Consortium. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2026 Apr; 78(4):489-500. PMID: 40826979.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 12/1/2025

    Huang CH, Segal NA, Felson DT, Sherman DA, Lewis CL, Bacon KL, Lynch J, Lewis CE, Stefanik J. Effect of Knee Extensor Power on Knee Pain in Adults With or at Risk for Osteoarthritis: The Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study. J Rheumatol. 2025 Dec 01; 52(12):1281-1287. PMID: 40953946.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 1037 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Other Positions

  • Professor, Epidemiology
    Boston University School of Public Health
  • Investigator
    Framingham Heart Study
  • Member, Arthritis & Autoimmune Diseases Research Center
    Boston University
  • Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research
    Boston University
  • Graduate Medical Sciences Educator and Mentor (Primary Mentor of Graduate Students)
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences

Websites

Education

  • Johns Hopkins University, MD
  • Boston University School of Public Health, MPH
  • Harvard College, AB

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