Meet the 1st Author Committee

Jonathan Gustafson
USA
CO-CHAIR

Ronald ‘Ron’
Kwon
USA
CO-CHAIR

Annegreet
Veldhuis-Vlug
The Netherlands
MEMBER

Antony
Sorial
United Kingdom
MEMBER

Niloufar ‘Nil’
Ansari
Australia
MEMBER

Fatemeh Malekipour
Australia
MEMBER

Daphney
Chery

USA
MEMBER

Diego
Grinman
Argentina
MEMBER

Yuuki Imai
Japan
ADVISOR

Jonathan A Gustafson PhD

Jonathan is a bioengineer currently based at Rush University Medical Center (Chicago, IL, USA). The focus of his research is understanding human movement disorders and developing rehabilitative—both operative and non-operative—treatment solutions. He is an advocate for mentoring and professional development of early-career scientists, with special emphasis in the Postdoctoral community where he currently leads the Rush Postdoctoral Association in developing new programs for postdocs. Besides science, Jonathan is also an avid beach volleyball player, competing on the professional beach volleyball tour (AVP) in the summer months. He is also passionate about hiking, reading, and scuba diving.

Ronald Kwon

Ronald is a bioengineer in the Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA, USA). He is Director of the Musculoskeletal Systems Biology Lab (MSBL), whose focus is on understanding the genetic basis of osteoporosis, and identifying new therapeutic targets to combat this massive health burden. They are also examining why certain organisms such as fish are able to regenerate bony appendages following amputation, and how to mount this response in the digits and limbs of mammals. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family and dogs, paddleboarding, and triathlon training.

Annegreet Veldhuis-Vlug

Annegreet is an Internist-Endocrinologist currently working in the OLVG/JvG hospital in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In addition, she studies the effect of hormones on bone marrow adiposity in the lab of Clifford Rosen at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute. She is a member of the ECTS Academy and a board member of the Bone Marrow Adiposity Society. Outside of work, she loves to run, play the violin, read and spend time with her family and friends at the beach!

Antony K Sorial MRCS

Tony is an academic orthopaedic surgeon based in Newcastle, UK. He is currently the joint Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh/Cutner Orthopaedic research fellow at the Institute of Genetic Medicine, Newcastle University. His research focusses on the molecular biology of osteoarthritis and strategies for translating functional epigenetic and genetic discovery studies into developing new osteoarthritis treatments. In his free time he enjoys live music, travelling to new destinations and watching / playing football.

Niloufar Ansari

Nil is a postdoctoral researcher at Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University (Australia). During her PhD, she worked on osteocytes and their role in the control of bone mass and strength. Currently, she works on using nanoparticles for targeted delivery of drugs, and studies the interaction of nanoparticles with the cells. During her free time, she enjoys playing guitar (the name of her guitar is Gisoo!), dancing, and readings books. She also likes baking/cooking, but she’s not good at following recipes!

Fatemeh Malekipour PhD

Fatemeh is a postdoctoral researcher in biomechanics, at the University of Melbourne (Australia). Since her PhD, she has been studying the biomechanics of cartilage and subchondral bone using experimental and computational methods combined with micro-computed tomography imaging. She is interested in studying the biomechanical effects of subchondral bone microdamage and microstructure on cartilage-bone and osteoarthritis mechanism. Currently, she is working on equine cartilage-bone biomechanics with an overall aim of injury prevention in racehorses. Besides science, she loves yoga, beach and reading. She also enjoys playing soccer and occasional cooking.

Daphney Chery, PhD

Daphney is a current postdoctoral fellow in the Orthopaedic Surgery Department at the Perleman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and also a recent recipient of the 2020-2021 AAAS Science and Technology Fellowship. Her current research interest includes expanding her current knowledge of musculoskeletal disease to include the study of cell biology and mechanobiology of skeletal progenitor cells. As a AAAS fellow, Daphney will be working with the Basic Research Department at the Department of Defense on key initiatives to broaden participation of black men and women in the STEM field. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, spending time with her family, and singing her heart out at karaoke.

Diego Grinman

Diego is a Postdoctoral Associate at Yale School of Medicine (USA). He has a long-standing interest in mammary gland physiology and breast cancer. Currently, he is studying the role of the bone and mineral metabolism in the development of cachexia in breast cancer, a debilitating syndrome that leads to therapy resistance and death in cancer patients. Besides the bench, Diego has always been passionate about science outreach and, during his PhD, he performed in many science shows and participated in a daily TV show as a science columnist in Argentina. He also likes to hike and every other day goes to the forest to hunt mushrooms.

Yuuki Imai MD PhD

Yuuki is a Professor at Proteo-Science Center, Graduate School of Medicine and Advanced Research Support Center, Ehime University, Japan. He graduated from Medical school, Osaka City University in 1999. In 2005, he obtained PhD degree from the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University. In 2009, he joined to Prof. Myles Brown’s Laboratory, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA as a visiting scientist, working on genome-wide integrative analyses. He returned to IMCB in 2010 as a Project Lecturer. In 2013, he moved to Ehime University and started his own Lab. From 2014, he is a member of IFMRS Big Data Work Group. He is now a councilor and a member of several committees of JSBMR. His research interests lie in the area of musculoskeletal biology with specific interest in the molecular mechanisms of sex steroids, epigenetics and bone metastasis.