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 9/19/2026

    Sudireddy D, Leung B, Neogi T, LaValley M, Felson D, Flynn D, Liew JW. Infection risk associated with steroid-sparing therapies in GCA, PMR, and ANCA-associated vasculitis: A systematic review. Joint Bone Spine. 2026 Sep 19; 94(2):106142. PMID: 42762860.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 9/16/2026

    van den Berg MA, van Tulder G, Ahedi H, Arden NK, Bierma-Zeinstra SMA, Boel F, Boer CG, van Buuren MMA, Cicuttini FM, Cootes TF, Felson DT, Gielis WP, Heerey J, Kemp J, Jones G, Kluzek S, Lane NE, Lindner C, van Meurs JBJ, Mosler AB, Nelson AE, Nevitt MC, Oei EH, Runhaar J, Weinans H, Krijthe JH, Agricola R. Integrating deep learning-based radiographic features with demographic variables for hip osteoarthritis prediction: development and validation using individual participant data from the World COACH Consortium. Osteoarthr Imaging. 2026 Sep 16; 100472. PMID: 42786113.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 8/20/2026

    Wu Y, Xu Y, Okoro PC, Saafi S, de Vries J, Qi X, Oei EHG, Bierma-Zeinstra S, Voortman T, Felson D, van Meurs JBJ, Chaker L, Wilkinson JM, Yau MS, Bertrand J, Boer CG. Genetic and Population Analyses Implicate Thyroid-Related Regulation of RNF144B in Chondrocalcinosis. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2026 Aug 20. PMID: 42621800.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 7/22/2026

    Felix M, McGwin G, Alarcon GS, Osmani L, Felson D, Suter LG, Hsieh E. Glucocorticoid exposure and social support deficits as longitudinal predictors of long-term neuropsychiatric damage in SLE: insights from the LUMINA cohort (LXXXIII). Lupus Sci Med. 2026 Jul 22; 13(2). PMID: 42486615.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 7/13/2026

    Callaghan MJ, Felson DT, Holden MA, Borrelli B, Nicholls E, Birrell F, Foster NE, Halliday N, Ingram C, Jinks C, Peat GM. Sensor-based measures of knee brace adherence have low agreement with self-report methods: A multi-measure study among knee osteoarthritis patients. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2026 Oct; 34(10):1498-1505. PMID: 42442456.

    Read at: PubMed

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

Education

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