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 6/2/2026

    Perry TA, Deng Y, Hulley PA, Maciewicz RA, Mitchelmore J, Larsson S, Gogain J, Brachat S, Struglics A, Appleton CT, Kluzek S, Arden NK, Felson D, Bondi L, Kapoor M, Lohmander LS, Welting TJ, Walsh DA, Valdes AM, Jostins-Dean L, Watt FE, Tom BDM, Vincent TL. Large-scale molecular endotype discovery in synovial fluid reveals osteoarthritis as a single biological continuum. Nat Commun. 2026 Jun 02; 17(1). PMID: 42230587.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 5/5/2026

    Liew JW, Jarraya M, Guermazi A, Ukonu NC, Rabasa G, Terkeltaub R, Felson D, Nevitt M, Lewis CE, Torner J, Neogi T. The association of CT-detected intra-articular calcification with MRI-detected effusion-synovitis and Hoffa-synovitis in knee OA: The Multicenter Osteoarthritis study. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2026 May 05. PMID: 42097273.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 5/1/2026

    Wolff ML, Nash SH, Lewis CE, Nevitt MC, Felson DT, Neogi T, Torner JC. Health-Related Behaviors Associated With Knee Pain Increase: A Longitudinal Community-Based Cohort Study That Examines Osteoarthritis. ACR Open Rheumatol. 2026 May; 8(5):e90043. PMID: 42053163.

    Read at: PubMed

  • 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

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