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
James KA, Neogi T, Felson DT, Corrigan P, Lewis CL, Davis IS, Bacon KL, Torner JC, Lewis CE, Nevitt MC, Stefanik JJ. Association of walking cadence to changes in knee pain and physical function: The multicenter osteoarthritis study. Osteoarthr Cartil Open. 2025 Mar; 7(1):100575. PMID: 39995587.
Published on 1/2/2025Liew JW, Petrow E, Tilley S, LaValley MP, Roemer FW, Guermazi A, Lewis CE, Torner J, Nevitt MC, Lynch JA, Felson D. Comparison of definitions of early knee osteoarthritis for likelihood of progression at 2-year and 5-year follow-up: the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study. Ann Rheum Dis. 2025 Jan; 84(1):115-123. PMID: 39874225.
Published on 12/23/2024Jacobs CA, Jones MH, Collins JE, Waddell LM, Li X, Winalski CS, Pietrosimone B, Kraus VB, Otero M, Wellsandt E, Schmitt LC, Spindler KP, Anderson DD, Rodeo SA, Magnussen RA, Wolf BR, Hart JM, Stone AV, Conley CE, Golightly YM, Myer GD, Snyder-Mackler L, Lotz MK, Kim JS, McLeod MM, Huebner JL, Lisee C, Selzer F, Katz JN, Long K, Frier KC, Betensky DJ, Felson DT, Losina E. The PIKASO trial (Preventing Injured Knees from Osteoarthritis: Severity Outcomes): Rationale and design features for a randomized controlled trial. Osteoarthr Cartil Open. 2025 Mar; 7(1):100563. PMID: 39867299.
Published on 12/8/2024Riedstra NS, Boel F, van Buuren MMA, Ahedi H, Arbabi V, Arden N, Baart SJ, Bierma-Zeinstra SMA, Cicuttini FM, Cootes TF, Crossley KM, Felson DT, Giellis WP, Heerey J, Jones G, Kluzek S, Lane NE, Lindner C, Lynch JA, van Meurs JBJ, Mosler A, Nelson AE, Nevitt MC, Oei EH, Runhaar J, Tang J, Weinans H, Agricola R. Acetabular dysplasia and the risk of developing hip osteoarthritis within 4-8 years: An individual participant data meta-analysis of 18,807 hips from the World COACH consortium. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2025 Mar; 33(3):373-382. PMID: 39657871.
Published on 11/19/2024Gløersen M, Kjeken I, Tveter AT, Kazemi A, Sexton J, Dziedzic K, Felson DT, Stamm TA, Guermazi A, Hermann-Eriksen M, Sæther MI, Lundby K, Esperø EL, Olsen M, Norheim KB, Fister EB, Hoff M, Uleberg JK, Midtgard IP, Andreassen T, Sjølie D, Sletten H, Hammer HB, Haugen IK. Study protocol for the PICASSO trial: A randomized placebo-controlled trial to investigate the efficacy and safety of intraarticular steroid injections and an occupational therapy intervention in painful inflammatory carpometacarpal-1 osteoarthritis. Osteoarthr Cartil Open. 2025 Mar; 7(1):100542. PMID: 39669005.
Published on 11/18/2024Deng Y, Perry TA, Hulley P, Maciewicz RA, Mitchelmore J, Perry D, Larsson S, Brachat S, Struglics A, Appleton CT, Kluzek S, Arden NK, Felson D, Marsden B, Tom BDM, Bondi L, Kapoor M, Batchelor V, Mackay-Alderson J, Kumar V, Lohmander LS, Welting TJ, Walsh DA, Valdes AM, Vincent TL, Watt FE, Jostins-Dean L. Development of methodology to support molecular endotype discovery from synovial fluid of individuals with knee osteoarthritis: The STEpUP OA consortium. PLoS One. 2024; 19(11):e0309677. PMID: 39556578.
Published on 10/31/2024Felson DT. Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists and Osteoarthritis. N Engl J Med. 2024 Oct 31; 391(17):1643-1644. PMID: 39476345.
Published on 10/21/2024Haugen IK, Felson DT, Abhishek A, Berenbaum F, Bierma-Zeinstra S, Dziedzic KS, Edwards JJ, Englund M, Hermann-Eriksen M, Herrero-Beaumont G, Hill C, Ishimori ML, Jonsson H, Karjalainen T, Leung YY, Maheu E, Mallen CD, Marshall M, Moe RH, Ramonda R, Ritschl V, Ritt MJ, Stamm TA, Szekanecz Z, van der Giesen F, van de Stadt LA, van der Meulen C, Wittoek R, Greibrokk E, Laheij H, Kloppenburg M. 2023 EULAR classification criteria for hand osteoarthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2024 Oct 21; 83(11):1428-1435. PMID: 38821712.
Published on 10/14/2024Felson DT. Osteoarthritis: Magnetic resonance imaging definitions and disease progression: comment on the article by Chang et al. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2024 Oct 14. PMID: 39400954.
Published on 10/3/2024Liew JW, Petrow E, Tilley S, LaValley MP, Roemer FW, Guermazi A, Lewis CE, Torner J, Nevitt MC, Lynch JA, Felson D. Comparison of definitions of early knee osteoarthritis for likelihood of progression at 2-year and 5-year follow-up: the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study. Ann Rheum Dis. 2024 Oct 03. PMID: 39362696.
Media Mentions
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
Published on 12/20/2022
Can Metformin Reduce Need for Total Joint Replacement in Diabetes?
Published on 3/15/2022
The Safety of Corticosteroid Injections for People With Knee Osteoarthritis
View full list of 25 media mentions.