Principles of Bone Biology (PDF)

Mineral Research (ASBMR) for Excellence in Clinical Research and the First Annual Global Leadership Award of the International Society of Clinical Densitometry. In 2009, he received the Gideon A. Rodan Excellence in Mentorship Award from the ASBMR. He received the Laureate Distinguished Educator Award of The Endocrine Society in 2014. In 2014, he was made honorary member of the Brazilian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism. His publications number over 700.

Dr. Raisz is Professor of Medicine and Program Director of the General Clinical Research Center at the University of Connecticut Health Center. He has been carrying out laboratory and clinical studies in the field of osteoporosis and bone metabolism for over 40 years. He has mentored a large number of investigators in these areas both here at the University of Connecticut and previously at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. His current studies include an analysis of the effects of estrogen and androgen on the expression of cytokines and growth factors in bone, which is being carried out in both humans and animal models, studies of the role of prostaglandins in bone metabolism using transgenic mice, studies on the effects of progestins on bone turnover in postmenopausal women and tissue culture and animal studies on new antiresorptive and anabolic agents carried out in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry.

Dr. Rodan graduated from the Hebrew University Medical School (Jerusalem) in 1965, had two years residency in oncology and obtained a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1970 from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. In 1970, he joined the University of Connecticut, where he became chairman of the Department of Oral Biology in 1978. In 1985, he was recruited by Merck to head the Department of Bone Biology and Osteoporosis Research and, since 1986, holds a joint appointment at the University of Pennsylvania as Adjunct Professor of Pathology.



The scientific contributions of Dr. Rodan and his colleagues include: establishment and characterization of osteoblastic cell lines in culture, which helped define the osteoblastic phenotype, the sequential expression of phenotypic genes, the interaction between osteoblasts and osteoclasts, and the development of a sensitive parathyroid hormone bioassay, which eventually led to the purification of parathyroid hormone-related peptide; other contributions include bone cell responses to mechanical stimuli and the role of prostaglandin E in that process. At Merck, Dr. Rodan initiated the effort which led to the development of the osteoporosis drug Fosamax and contributed to the understanding of the mode of action of bisphosphonates.



Dr. Rodan has served on NIH study sections, council and other advisory panels; he has been an Associate Editor of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, is currently Associate Editor of Bone, and member of several editorial boards. Dr. Rodan has been council member, program chairman and president of ASBMR; member of the Board of Directors of the National Osteoporosis Foundation and is currently president elect of the International Bone and Mineral Society. Dr. Rodan is the recipient of the Kennedy prize from the Weizmann Institute of science, the Neuman prize from the ASBMR, the Pioneer Award of the National Osteoporosis Foundation and the Goldhaber award of Harvard School of Dental Medicine.