Journal of Nutritional Disorders & Therapy

Stephen P Messier

Stephen P Messier
Professor, Department of Health and Exercise Science
Wake Forest University, USA

Biography

Dr. Messier is Professor and Director of the J.B Snow Biomechanics Laboratory at Wake Forest University. He has been at Wake Forest for 30 years and has 22 years’ experience in clinical trials research specifically related to knee osteoarthritis. He is well known for his work on the effects of exercise and weight loss on gait, strength, function, and pain in knee OA. He was the co-principal investigator of the Fitness Arthritis in Seniors Trial (FAST), the principal investigator of the Arthritis Diet and Activity Promotion Trial (ADAPT), and currently is the principal investigator of the Intensive Diet and Exercise for Arthritis (IDEA) study in which his research team recruited 454 older adults with knee osteoarthritis for an 18-month exercise and intensive weight loss intervention study. Each of these studies has been funded with grants from the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Messier is also the director of the Wake Forest Runners’ Clinic that uses the skills of physical therapists, orthopaedic surgeons, and biomechanists to determine the causes of overuse injuries in runners. Currently, he is the principal investigator of The Runners And Injury Longitudinal Study (TRAILS) that is funded by the United States Army.

Research Interest

Dr. Messier research is advancing our understanding of the connection between overweight and osteoarthritis including the effect of weight loss on the incidence and progression of the disease.