Mow Receives Award from Osteoarthritis Group
Van C. Mow, Stanley Dicker Professor and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, has been awarded the 2008 Basic Science Award from the Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI). Dr. Mow will receive this award on September 18, 2008 at the Opening Ceremony of OARSI World Congress to be held in Rome, Italy. As part of the award, Dr. Mow will deliver a lecture at the Opening Ceremony. Dr. Mow was cited by OARSI for "outstanding work on the understanding of cartilage structure and function." OARSI is the largest international scientific and medical research society focused on the causes of osteoarthritis and the clinical treatment modalities for this debilitating disease.
According to the National Institutes of Health, osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common type of arthritis, and the percentage of people who have it grows higher with age. An estimated 12.1% of the U.S. population, nearly 21 million Americans, age 25 and older, has osteoarthritis. Generally, OA starts with the deterioration of the lining (articular cartilage) of affected joints, which includes some of the major load-bearing joints of the body, such as the knee, hip, shoulder, and basal joint of the thumb.
Dr. Mow has devoted his academic career to biomechanics research of the musculoskeletal system, focused on detailed characterization of the major tissue of mammalian joints, articular cartilage, as well as the interverbral discs of the lumbar spine. His paradigm-changing research began with his introduction of the biphasic and triphasic theories in 1980 and 1991, respectively. The 1980 paper won the Melville Medal, and the 1992 best paper award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineering, Bioengineering Division. Today, these basic theoretical and experimental papers are some of the most highly cited papers in the field of biomechanics and bioengineering. In total, Dr. Mow has over 8,500 ISI citations of his publications.
