Northwestern University Bone Health and Osteoporosis Program (NUBOP)

NUBOP is a multidisciplinary group of research investigators and clinical experts in bone and osteoporosis at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. Our group was founded in 1999 by co-directors Dr. Craig B. Langman and Dr. Paula Stern and NUBOP has been growing in size and group diversity since its inception.  NUBOP consists of faculty members and associates of Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine who meet about twice a month for presentations and discussions on current topics regarding the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of bone disease and related research.  NUBOP brings internationally renowned speakers to the Northwestern campus and frequently invites them to present in seminar series for Feinberg departments such as Orthopaedics, Endocrinology, Cardiology, Rheumatology, Pediatrics, Nephrology as well as many research divisions. 

Current NUBOP group:

Shubhada N. Ahya, MD
Guillermo Ameer, ScD
Lidia Andruszyn, DNP, APN, CNP
Maryka Bhattacharyya, PhD
Ellen R. Brooks, PhD
Andrew D. Bunta, MD
Yeon T. Chung, PhD
Kimberley J Dilley, MD, MPH
Guo Guang Du, PhD
Andrew Dudley, PhD
Beatrice J. Edwards, MD
Jennifer Koblinski, PhD
Anca Gal-Moscovici, PhD
Matthew Hepler, MD
Marilyn L.G. Lamm, PhD
Craig B. Langman, MD
Anait S. Levenson, MD, PhD
June McKoy, MD, MPH, JD
Cheikh Menaa, PhD
Melba Ovalle, MD
Lauren M. Pachman, MD
Heather E. Price, MS
Hongjin Qiu, PhD
Nalini Rajamannan, MD
Rosalind Ramsey-Goldman MD, DrPH
Matthew J. Ravosa, PhD
W. Zev Rymer, MD, PhD
Robert L. Satcher, MD, PhD
Thomas Schnitzer, MD
Prem Seth, PhD
Daniel Shevrin, MD
Lee P. Shulman, MD
Amareshwar Singh, PhD
Stuart M. Sprague, DO
Paula H. Stern, PhD
Stuart Stock, PhD
Arthur Veis, PhD
Tamara Vokes, MD
Jun Wang, PhD
Alan Yasko, MD, MBA
Tomohiko Yoshida, PhD
Liang Zhang, PhD
Dan Zhao, PhD

Below are excerpts adapted from a "Northwestern Observer" Article written about NUBOP by Anna Kiss on 1/28/99.

"Bonding over bones: a group of Northwestern scientists and doctors have formed a network to share knowledge and research with the common goal of diagnosing, treating and preventing bone disease."

A group of researchers enlisted from seemingly disparate areas of science is in a multifunction room on the sixth floor of the Montgomery Ward Memorial Building on the Chicago campus.  They are sipping coffee from paper cups and discussing programs for their upcoming seminars and meetings.  Bones have knit these scientists together.  They are members of the Northwestern University Bone and Osteoporosis Program, a group that has grown from five to almost 60 University scientists, physicians and educators.

The members from the original core group are Craig Langman, M.D., a pediatric nephrologist, who originated the group along with Paula Stern, Ph.D., a scientist in bone biology and an endocrine pharmacologist; Stuart M. Sprague, D.O. a nephrologist who specializes in bone and mineral metabolism; Rosalind Ramsey-Goldman, M.D., a rheumatologist and leading expert on lupus; Laird Madison, M.D., an endocrinologist with a major interest in cell biology; Beatrice Edwards, M.D., an expert on aging; Julie Dunn, a nutritionist who studies the effects of aging on diet and disease; and research administrator and patient advocate Catherine Tymkow, R.N. 

This multidisciplinary medical assembly with a combined focus on clinical and basic science research, plus additional colleagues and collaborators, meets monthly to discuss grant opportunities, plan seminars and exchange ideas on bone health and disease.  The scientists and physicians also deliberate on how to generate preventive and educational programs and provide patients with a centralized place at Northwestern Memorial Hospital where they can get coordinated care for bone disease.

“We created the bone [group] to communicate and organize a group of people interested in various bone diseases who could help each other with ongoing projects and initiate new grant proposals,” said Stern.  “We have the potential to raise questions from different subspecialties and add to each other’s individual expertise.  We also brainstorm with each other about how to get bone health a more prominent public face.”  The bone group sees itself as an organization of research specialists who speak as one unit.  Langman said, “To play on a well-known theme, ‘it takes an entire village’ of scientists and educators to diagnose, treat and prevent bone disease.”