Investigator honored for advancing osteoporosis research and advocacy worldwide

Professor Socrates Papapoulos, a long standing member of the IOF Board and leading researcher at the Leiden University Medical Center, has been named the recipient of the prestigious Pierre Delmas Award. The award was presented today at the European Congress on Osteoporosis & Osteoarthritis (ESCEO13-IOF), currently being held in Rome, Italy.

The Award is granted by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) in memory of Pierre D. Delmas, IOF's renowned founding president who was instrumental in the growth of the Foundation and in advancing osteoporosis research and advocacy worldwide.

IOF President John Kanis presented the Award, stating, "This Pierre Delmas Award is presented to an individual who has made a significant and unstinting contribution to the advancement of the work of IOF. As a longtime member of the IOF Board and leading researcher elected to the IOF Committee of Scientific Advisors, Socrates Papapoulos has played a significant role within IOF. Since 1998, when he was co-author of the landmark EU Report on Osteoporosis, in his role as senior scientific advisor of the European Union Osteoporosis Project, and as Vice Chair of the European Union Osteoporosis Consultation Panel, Socrates Papapoulos has worked to advance the priority given to musculoskeletal disease within European health care systems."

Socrates Papapoulos is Professor of Medicine, Consultant Physician and Director of Bone and Mineral Research at the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases of the Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands. He received his MD from the University of Athens, Greece and he was trained in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology in Athens and at the Middlesex Hospital, London, UK. Since 1974 he has been continuously engaged in basic and clinical research in disorders of calcium and bone metabolism with special emphasis on the basic and clinical pharmacology of the bisphosphonates particularly in osteoporosis. More recently a main focus of his research has been the pathophysiology of conditions characterized by high bone mass.

A former President of the Dutch Society for Calcium and Bone Metabolism, he has served on numerous boards and committees including the Board and the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Foundation of Osteoporosis and of the International Osteoporosis Foundation, the Board of Directors of the International Bone and Mineral Society, the European Union Committee for the prevention of osteoporosis and a WHO task force for the development of a worldwide strategy for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. Professor Papapoulos has authored more than 300 publications and is recipient of several awards and distinctions. He has served on the editorial boards of Bone and Mineral, Bone and Osteoporosis International, among other publications.