Composition of the Scientific Board
- Ten to fourteen members, striving for demographic and geographical diversity
- Renewal of one third of the members every 2 years (i.e. each member will serve 6 years)
- Incoming BMA Meeting President
Missions and Tasks
- Scoring annual BMA meeting abstracts
- Selecting oral presentations
- Nominating awardees for prizes
- Publishing a meeting report
- Selecting the BMAS Paper of the Month
- Supporting the BMAS Summer School committee
Drenka Trivanović
Executive Board Liaison, Serbia
Jason Horton
USA
Adriana Roque
Portugal
Aline Bozec
Germany
Drenka Trivanović, PhD is a Principal Research Fellow at the Group for Hematology and Stem Cells at Institute for Medical Research, University of Belgrade, Serbia. She received her PhD in 2015 from the University of Belgrade, and in the period from 2017-2022 she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the IZKF Group Tissue Regeneration in Musculoskeletal Diseases, University Hospital Wuerzburg (Germany). Drenka leads several research lines where she investigates BMAT in osteoarthritis, metastatic breast cancer and hematological malignancies. Drenka led the preparation of several PhD, master and doctoral theses in Serbia and Germany. Dr. Trivanovic is a guest and regular editor in numerous international journals and has given several invited talks and lectures at international conferences. Drenka was a chair of the Organizing Committee of the International BMA Summer School 2025. She is a member the ECTS Academy (2023-2027).
Jason Horton is currently an assistant professor of Orthopedic Surgery, with joint appointments in Radiation Oncology and Cell & Developmental Biology at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse NY, USA. My laboratory studies the adverse consequences of cancer and cancer treatment on skeletal health, with particular interest in the pathophysiology of expansion in radiation-induced bone disease, which features rapid and profound expansion of marrow adipose tissue.
Adriana Roque, MD, is a consultant hematologist at the Coimbra University Hospital (Local Health Unit of Coimbra), Portugal, and a lecturer in Physiology and Hematology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra. Her clinical work focuses on plasma cell disorders, lymphomas, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, and immune-based therapies, including CAR-T cells and bispecific antibodies. She is actively involved in multicenter clinical trials as principal investigator and co-investigator and has authored and co-authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations, several of which have received scientific awards. She is a member of multiple national and international hematology societies and an elected board member of the Portuguese Multiple Myeloma Group. She is pursuing a PhD in Health Sciences, with research addressing the role of bone marrow adipose tissue in multiple myeloma through integrated clinical and translational approaches.
Aline Bozec, PhD is Professor in experimental immune therapy at the Medizinische Klinik 3-Rheumatologie und Immunologie (Department of Rheumatology and Immunology) of the University Hospital Erlangen (Germany). She is a member of ASBMR, ECTS, BMAS, ISBMS and Board member of ISBMS, ECTS and ASBMR. Her research group has a particular focus on the interplay between metabolism, bone homeostasis, and inflammation.
Primary research objective is to elucidate the cellular and molecular mechanisms that alter the bone marrow microenvironment under the influence of various disease conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, and cancer metastasis. By employing in vitro and in vivo gain- and loss-of-function murine models, the laboratory has uncovered crucial roles for the immune system in regulating the differentiation of bone cell types, including marrow adipocytes, osteoblasts and osteoclasts.
Janane Rahbani
USA
Thomas Ambrosi
USA
Ziru Li
USA
Michaela Tencerová
Czech Republic
Dr. Janane Rahbani is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Section of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Chicago. His research program focuses on the metabolic crosstalk between bone marrow adipocytes (BMAs) and leukemia, with the goal of uncovering how this specialized adipose depot contributes to leukemia progression, therapy resistance, and systemic metabolic remodeling. He earned his M.Sc. in Chemistry from the American University of Beirut in 2012 and a Ph.D. in Chemical Biology from McGill University in 2018. As a postdoctoral fellow at the Goodman Cancer Institute, he investigated non-shivering thermogenesis in adipocytes and defined key determinants of the futile creatine cycle. Building on this foundation, his laboratory now integrates dietary interventions, genetic models, and multi-omic profiling to delineate how BMAs shape the leukemic niche and to identify strategies for reprogramming this microenvironment to enhance therapeutic response in leukemia.
Assistant Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery at University of California Davis. His lab aims to delineate skeletal stem cell (SSC) diversity and niche composition in mice and humans to eventually identify novel molecular targets of endogenous stem cell communication, specifically between skeletal (adipogenic) and hematopoietic lineages. Thomas holds a German engineering diploma from Technical University Berlin and a master’s degree in Bioengineering from Dongseo University, South Korea. During his undergraduate studies at the Julius-Wolff-Institute for Biomechanics and Musculoskeletal Regeneration, Charité Berlin, he examined the effect of mechanical stimuli on lineage decisions of bone-resident stem cells. Thomas’ research in the lab of Dr. Tim J. Schulz earned him a Ph.D. from the University of Potsdam, Germany by delineating the developmental origin and function of bone marrow adipose tissue. Initially supported by a two-year postdoctoral scholarship from the German Research Foundation, he conducted his postdoctoral training in the lab of Dr. Charles Chan at Stanford University where he later received a prestigious National Institute on Aging K99/R00 Award to study skeletal stem cell biology with focus on aging.
Dr. Ziru Li is a Faculty Scientist at the MaineHealth Institute for Research (MHIR), Assistant Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine, and Graduate Adjunct Faculty at the University of Maine. She earned her Ph.D. in Physiology from Peking University and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan under Drs. Weizhen Zhang and Ormond MacDougald. Dr. Li’s research focuses on energy metabolism and its impact on skeletal and bone marrow niche homeostasis, with particular interest in the gut–bone axis, bone marrow adiposity, and bone loss. She has received funding from the NIH and the American Diabetes Association and has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Li serves on the editorial board of The Journal of Biological Chemistry and holds active memberships in ASBMR, the Endocrine Society, and the Bone Marrow Adiposity Society. She is committed to mentoring the next generation of physician-scientists and biomedical researchers.
Michaela Tencerova is a Principal Investigator at the Institute of Physiology (IPHYS) of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague. Through two abroad Postdoctoral trainings (UMASS Medical School, USA; SDU, Odense, Denmark) she moved her research interest from immunometabolism in obesity and diabetes to studying bone marrow adiposity and interactions between bone and stem cells metabolism in relation to metabolic diseases. Her lab is focused on studying the role of bone marrow adiposity in the regulation of bone and whole-body metabolism. She is a member of Scientific board of the Bone Marrow Adiposity Society (BMAS), ECTS Basic science committee, Committee of Women in Bone and Mineral Research in the ASBMR. She has obtained several young investigator awards and international and national grants.
Gustavo Duque
Canada
Ling Qin
USA
Kaisa Ivaska
Finland
Camille Attané
France
Gustavo Duque MD, Ph.D., FRACP, FGSA, is a geriatrician and a clinical and biomedical researcher with a particular interest in the mechanisms and treatment of osteoporosis, sarcopenia, and frailty in older persons. His initial training included Internal Medicine at Javeriana University (Colombia) and Geriatric Medicine, which he completed at McGill University in Montreal (Canada). Subsequently, he obtained his Ph.D. at McGill University in 2003 with a thesis entitled ‘Molecular Changes of the Aging Osteoblast’ under the supervision of Dr. Richard Kremer. Prof. Duque’s primary research interests include elucidating the mechanisms and potential new treatments for age-related bone loss, osteoporosis, sarcopenia, osteosarcopenia, and frailty. He is also looking at the effect of vitamin D, exercise, and proteins on bone and muscle mass. He is the Dr. Joseph Kaufmann Chair in Geriatric Medicine, Director of the Center for Research Excellence for Sustainable Health for Seniors at McGill University, and investigator at the McGill University Health Centre Research Institute. He is the author of more than 280 peer-reviewed articles and multiple book chapters and has edited five books in the aging and musculoskeletal fields (two on osteosarcopenia).
Dr. Ling Qin is a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research aims to combine studies on fundamental mechanisms of skeletal cell function with translational medicine approaches to treat skeletal diseases (https://www.med.upenn.edu/orl/qinlab/). Her group uses a combination of molecular, biochemical, and imaging techniques, and animal models to investigate the molecular mechanisms by which hormones and growth factors regulate bone metabolism and skeletal development under normal and pathological conditions. In the past decade, she has made groundbreaking discoveries that have greatly advanced our understanding of the molecular regulation of bone and cartilage metabolism, stem cell biology, and skeletal development, and have provided promising therapeutic tools for skeletal disorders, such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.
Principal investigator at the Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, with expertise on bone turnover, bone markers and marrow metabolism. Current research focuses on the crosstalk between bone cells and bone marrow adipocytes, with special interest in the role of bone-derived factors and the use of PET imaging to assess marrow adiposity.
Research Associate at the Institute of Pharmacology and Structural Biology in Toulouse (France) in Catherine Muller’s lab (Microenvironment, Cancer and Adipocytes) with expertise in metabolism, adipocyte biology and cancer. Current research focuses on studying the role and the nature of the metabolic crosstalk between prostate cancer cells and bone marrow adipocytes in bone metastasis outgrowth. Member of the biobanking working group of the Bone Marrow Adiposity Society.
Abhishek Chandra
USA
Rosella Labella
USA
Abhishek Chandra, PhD is Associate Professor of Physiology at the Department of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering with joint appointments at Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Geriatrics and Robert Arlene & Kogod Center on Aging, Mayo Clinic. Abhishek holds a masters in biochemistry from India, and a PhD in Medical Sciences from Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Japan. Abhishek then completed a post-doc at Rutgers-UMDNJ in USA, and then a second post-doc at Penn Center for Musculoskeletal Disorder, University of Pennsylvania. He is member of ASBMR, ORS and BMAS, serves on editorial board of reputed journals such as Mechanism of Ageing and Development and Journal of Orthopedic Surgery and Research. The long-term research interest of my lab includes mechanisms of aging, pathophysiology of skeletal aging and mechanistic determination of acute and chronic bone loss, with expertise in cellular senescence, DNA damage and cell fate commitment of mesenchymal lineage cells into bone marrow adipocytes during pathological conditions. Clinical goals include, providing therapeutic options for prevention of fractures from radiotherapy-induced osteoporosis.
Dr. Labella Rossella obtained her Ph. D degree from Sapienza University of Rome, Italy in 2018. Her work focused on the role of Gsα signaling pathways in the physiology of the human postnatal skeleton. After her PhD, she joined the Kousteni’s lab at Columbia University in January 2020 for her postdoctoral studies and she worked on the dissection of the role of the bone marrow stroma in the MDS to AML transformation. Currently she is a senior Postdoc at LMU Klinikum München in the Subklewe’s Lab. In the BMAS she was part of the organizing committee member of the First Bone Marrow Adiposity Summer School (2021), member of the Next Generation BMAS group and Liaisons member between Executive and Scientific Board of BMAS (2022-2024).