UMKC researcher to be honored for bone disease work

Courtesy UMKC.

Courtesy UMKC.

With hip fractures and osteoporosis affecting many elderly people, a researcher at UMKC is helping to find new approaches for treating musculoskeletal diseases.

UMKC says Lynda Bonewald, Vice Chancellor for Translational and Clinical Research, is one of the world’s leading bone and mineralized tissue scientists. This month she’ll receive a national award for her contribution to the field from the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

“I am very happy to be receiving this award, but at the same time I am humbled to be joining the leaders in our field that have received this award before me,” said Bonewald, a past president of the society.

“There is a tremendous need for new approaches to treating musculoskeletal diseases. Of the 60 million Americans injured annually, more than half incur injuries to the musculoskeletal system. The most common bone disease is osteoporosis, which leads to fragile bones that break easily. Hip fractures account for 300,000 hospitalizations per year; 20 percent of those patients die within a year and 20 percent are relegated to long-term care facilities such as a nursing home,” according to a UMKC press release.

Bonewald also is Director of the UMKC Center of Excellence in the Study of Dental and Musculoskeletal Tissues, which is studying the relationship between osteoporosis (loss of bone density) and sarcopenia (loss of muscle mass) as people age

This year, Bonewald helped found the Kansas City Regional Consortium for Musculoskeletal Disorders and Diseases, a partnership among UMKC, the University of Kansas Medical Center and the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences.

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