Prof. Joel A BLOCK (USA)

Joel A. Block, MD, is the Willard L. Wood MD Professor of Rheumatology, and is a Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry at Rush Medical College. He is Director of the Section of Rheumatology and Director of the Rush Center for Clinical Studies at Rush University Medical Center, overseeing a faculty of 30 rheumatologists and biomedical investigators.

Dr. Block earned his M.D. at Washington University School of Medicine, completed his clinical training in Internal Medicine at the University of Chicago, and served as a post-doctoral fellow at Rush University Medical Center prior to joining the faculty of rheumatology. He has longstanding research interests in the biology of cartilage extracellular matrix. He developed a series of cell lines from chondrosarcoma tissue that express the differentiated human chondrocytic phenotype and which have served as stable experimental models in laboratories around the world. During the past decade, Dr. Block’s primary research focus has been to understand biomechanical mechanisms of osteoarthritis progression and to develop mechanically active interventions that might retard structural progression and ameliorate pain in lower extremity osteoarthritis.