The Good Doctor is in...(Special Profile)

Hmmm perhaps I should have titled this one "The Good Doctor is on..."
Huh? What does Mozzarc mean? I mean Dr Felson...he is on our steering committee/acting consultant for the Third Phase OA Trial!

Yes today I present to you Dr Felson..a snapshot of who he is, what he does and why he will make a difference to us and as a bonus for you, I'll even throw a quote or two in this post that most of you haven't seen.

Please note Dungiven and Jace1984 also covered this in the AGM section at HC but I wanted to draw more attention to it and give you a few more details.

Strap in and do enjoy the read.




Name:

David T Felson


Current role:

Professor and Director of Clinical Epidemiology Research & Training Unit, Boston.


Qualifications:

MD John Hopkins University
MPH Boston University School of Public Healthand to top it off,
AB degree (cum laude) (this means with distinction) at none other than, you guessed it, Harvard.

Note: MD = Medical Doctor, MPH = Master of Public Health, this is a degree that is bestowed on someone that has a degree in successful training in regards to past, present and future public health topic/issues. AB = Bachelor Degree (History and Biochemistry). I particularly like the degree in Biochemistry as that's what is needed to understand the mix of Bio and Chem when dealing with OA and related concepts.


Specialty:

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.¹


Honor roll:

Wiesbaden, Germany: Carol Nachman prize 2017
Osteoarthritis Research Society International: Lifetime Achievement Award2012
Arthritis Foundation, Mass. Chapter: Dr. Marian Ropes Award for research accomplishments, patient care and teaching 2010
Arthritis Foundation: Howley Prize2004
American College of Rheumatology: Clinical Research Award 2001



Sponsored research:

Lots!Some samples:

Uncovering the Genetic Mechanisms Behind Joint-Specific Osteoarthritis
Planning a Trial of Novel Footwear for Knee Osteoarthritis
Identifying cases of PFJ OA & their hip impairments


Publications:

Again, lots! Way too many to list but some samples:

Shakoor D, Demehri S, Roemer FW, Loeuille D, Felson DT, Guermazi A. Are Contrast-Enhanced And Non-Contrast MRI Findings Reflecting Synovial Inflammation In Knee Osteoarthritis: A Meta-Analysis Of Observational Studies. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2019 Oct 31.View Related Profiles. PMID: 31678664.

Jafarzadeh SR, Neogi T, Stefanik JJ, Li JS, Guermazi A, Apovian CM, Felson DT. Mediating role of bone marrow lesion, synovitis, pain sensitization, and depressive symptoms on knee pain improvement following substantial weight loss. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2019 Sep 28.View Related Profiles. PMID: 31562683.

Roemer FW, Collins J, Kwoh CK, Hannon MJ, Neogi T, Felson DT, Hunter DJ, Lynch JA, Guermazi A. MRI-based screening for structural definition of eligibility in clinical DMOAD trials: Rapid OsteoArthritis MRI Eligibility Score (ROAMES). Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2019 Sep 09.View Related Profiles. PMID: 31513920.


Here is a graph showing just how many publications Dr Felson has contributed to since 1984:



_{The sheer number of publications that the Good Dr has been involved with is astounding and it would take a lifetime of Mozzarc research to go through these...no, don't ask me to review even a quarter of these. Most of them involve OA research.}



Mozz's Notes:

Trust me when I say this guy knows his stuff and has had a lot of experience in the field of OA. He is the perfect champion for us...Look at this guy's experience and how it relates to us:

1) He has been responsible for the creation and direction of so many studies to do with OA. He has been on numerous steering committees related to OA. Some these have been"large cohort studies in Osteoarthritis with the goal of describing the disease's natural history and especially with a focus on risk factors". ²

2) He has a connection with the University of Manchester in UK and has conducted a number of studies and has developed new treatments and programs there.

3) He will be able to understand how iPPS has an overlap with RA as he has led a number of efforts in the field of RA as well.

4) He has so many connections at so many universities with trainees of his at universities such as Boston University, Harvard, Tufts, Mayo Clinic, Yale, U. of Maryland and UC Davis.Note Mayo Clinic features heavily a lot of the time in the various multiple articles and medical journals I've read over the months in connection with my posts here at HC.

5) Dr. Felson has received the Howley Prize from the Arthritis Foundation (U.S.) for contributions to Arthritis Research and was the inaugural recipient of the Clinical Research Award from the American College of Rheumatology. He has also received the OARSI Lifetime Achievement Award 2012 due to his devotion to increasing the understanding of osteoarthritis.² He is well known not only to the FDA but to many in this circle and his credo will assist us no end.

I really do believe that the FDA will appreciate and value his efforts to guide us through and it will do wonders for us. Well done PAR in being able to attract this amazing professor.



The Quotes:

Well I did promise you some quotes, at the AGM, going through my notes, this is what Paul Rennie had to say about The Good Dr.

Paul said Dr Felson had worked on trial designs for the FDA, this will come in very handy as he is one of the guys that has been responsible for setting trails up, not only he will know what the FDA generally look for, he will be on our side to help us and guide us through the trail design and building phase.

Paul mentioned that Dr Felson "hasn't worked with other Bio Phrama companies previously".

Paul then went on to say he is a "living legend in this [OA] space" and Paul mentioned that Dr Felson "is very excited about our data so much so that he has agreed to work with us on our Phase three clinical design".

The final quote that got me totally was that Paul said "...he has also agreed to come with us to the FDA to explain the significance of this data". If that ain't a huge endorsement then I don't know what else is! This amazing Dr. will actually bat for us in the meeting with the FDA, he has never done that before for any other company, so compelling are our results and clinical data. These are facts. I was at the AGM, I heard it with my own ears...

The FDA and Phase three will no doubt be a big hurdle we must cross, like a few other HC posters have commented, there have been many cases where companies have not made it through when the prospects looked good after their Phase 2 results. I think we have a great chance of getting through successfully but be assured, having Dr Felson on board and assisting us will only increase our chances of really making it.

Paradigmers, millions of shares have traded in the last few weeks...I don't know about you, I can't speak for you...I cannot and will never advise you to do anything...but I for one won't sell too early! The future in PAR is just too bright for that. Only my views.



DISCLAIMERS

I'm not a scientist, I'm not a fireman and I'm no financial wizard. (I may be an financial apprentice wizard wannabe then)...Do your own research, consider your own risks profiles, be careful out there we are prone to dips despite how bright I think our overall longer term path is...



REFERENCES


1) https://profiles.bu.edu/David.Felson
2) https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/david.felson.html
3) https://www.bu.edu/sargent/profile/david-felson-md-mph/