David T. Felson MD, MPH
Professor, Rheumatology
Professor, Epidemiology
650 Albany St | (617) 638-5180david.felson@bmc.org
dfelson@bu.edu
Sections
Rheumatology
Centers
Arthritis & Autoimmune Diseases Research Center
Framingham Heart Study
Boston Nutrition Obesity Research Center
Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research
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.
Other Positions
Education
Medicine, MD, Johns Hopkins University
Public Health, MPH, Boston University School of Public Health
History/Biochemistry, AB, Harvard College
Publications
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.
Published on 1/26/2026Holden 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.
Published on 1/15/2026Tang 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.
Published on 1/14/2026van 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.
Published on 12/2/2025Centor RM, Felson D. Annals On Call - Cost-Effectiveness of Weight Loss Drugs for Knee Osteoarthritis. Ann Intern Med. 2025 Dec; 178(12):e2505155OC. PMID: 41325610.
Published on 12/1/2025Huang 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.
Published on 11/21/2025Corrigan P, Lewis CL, Costello KE, Kumar D, Felson DT, Neogi T, Bacon KL, LaValley MP, Guermazi A, Roemer F, Nevitt MC, Lewis CE, Torner JC, Stefanik JJ. Relation of vertical ground reaction forces while walking to contralateral structural worsening in adults with unilateral knee osteoarthritis: the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study. Clin Biomech (Bristol). 2026 Feb; 132:106718. PMID: 41352273.
Published on 11/19/2025Sara LK, Felson DT, LaValley MP, Stefanik JJ, Lewis CL. Response to letter to the editor regarding 'The relation of walking forces to structural damage in the knee: The Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study'. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2026 Jan; 34(1):182-183. PMID: 41265825.
Published on 10/30/2025Sieberer JM, Park N, Desroches S, Brennan K, Rancu A, McGinley B, Manafzadeh AR, Segal NA, Felson D, Tommasini SM, Wiznia DH, Fulkerson JP. Breaking down tibial tuberosity to trochlear groove distance into two components to enable patient-specific treatment strategies. J ISAKOS. 2026 Feb; 16:101025. PMID: 41173215.
Published on 10/8/2025Wallace IJ, Felson DT, Kraus VB, Neogi T, Haugen IK, Huebner JL, Sena CMT, Kivell TL, Holowka NB, Worthington S, Lim YAL, Venkataraman VV, Kraft TS, Lea AJ. Dampened inflammation and reduced risk of osteoarthritis among non-industrialized societies. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2026 Jan; 34(1):18-27. PMID: 41072881.
Media Mentions
Published on 12/11/2025
Major Weight Loss and Knee-Pain Relief Seen With New Eli Lilly Drug
Published on 10/20/2025
Can collagen supplements improve your skin? Here's what the research shows
Published on 10/30/2024
Obesity Drug Shows Promise in Easing Knee Osteoarthritis Pain
Published on 10/30/2024
Semaglutide linked to reduced arthritis knee pain in people with obesity, study finds
Published on 10/30/2024
Wegovy Reduced Pain From Knee Osteoarthritis
Published on 3/20/2024
Published on 11/12/2023
Researchers suggest new approach for testing treatments for osteoarthritis.
Published on 10/26/2023
PCPs and Knee OA: When to Keep Treating, When to Refer
Published on 10/13/2023
BU researchers novel osteoarthritis treatment testing idea
Published on 10/12/2023
View full list of 27 media mentions.