Joel A Block MD is the Willard L. Wood, MD, Professor of Rheumatology, professor of Medicine, and Chief of the Division of Rheumatology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. His early research focused on cartilage biology and chondrocytic proteoglycans, and several of his human chondrocyte cell models remain in use in laboratories on four continents. His interests subsequently broadened to include the role of aberrant biomechanical loading in lower extremity osteoarthritis. He leads a large multidisciplinary group that studies osteoarthritis from a broad perspective, including joint tissue biology, neurobiology of musculoskeletal pain, and mechanical mediators of osteoarthritis progression, all with the focus on identifying novel therapeutic strategies.
Dr. Block served as Editor-in-Chief of Osteoarthritis and Cartilage from 2016 until 2022 and remains a member of the Editorial Board. In addition, he is a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, Osteoarthritis and Cartilage Open, and Journal of Orthopaedic Research. He has served on the Boards of Directors of the American College of Rheumatology, the Osteoarthritis Research Society International, and as Vice President of the U.S. Bone & Joint Initiative. He has served on, and chaired, numerous grant review panels for the NIH, Arthritis Foundation, Defense Department, and several overseas granting authorities.