Researcher Elected to Leadership Team of Bone Research Society

Brendan Boyce, M.D., professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and director of Anatomic Pathology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, has been elected Secretary/Treasurer of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR). He will assume his role at the end of the ASBMR 32nd Annual Meeting, which will be held in Toronto on October 15-19, 2010.

Boyce will serve as secretary/treasurer-elect for one year, followed by two years as Secretary/Treasurer. The ASBMR was established to promote excellence in bone and mineral research and to hasten its translation into clinical advances. Founded in 1977, the society now has nearly 4,000 members, including physicians, basic research scientists and clinical investigators from more than 50 countries.

Boyce received his medical degree from Glasgow University Scotland in 1972 and trained in Pathology at the Royal Infirmary at the University of Glasgow. His interest in metabolic bone disease and bone cell biology goes back to 1976, and he moved permanently to the United States in 1990 to join the Department of Pathology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. In 1999, he was appointed director of Surgical Pathology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, where he is also a member of the Center for Musculoskeletal Disease. His research, funded by the National Institutes of Health, is focused on the role of key signaling molecules (e.g. NF-kappaB) in the formation and triggering of osteoclasts, cells that break down bone and that play roles in  osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis and cancer that has spread to bone.

As secretary-treasurer, Boyce will be charged with raising funds to support ASBMR meetings and to provide grant support for young and established investigators. He will also lead efforts to limit spending and control the society’s operational costs.  Such financial stewardship will be a particular challenge given that the society’s investments have suffered in the economic downturn and that pharmaceutical companies are providing less support to all scientific societies.

Boyce believes he was elected in part because of his experience in other leadership posts, including as past-president of the International Society of Bone Morphometry, secretary-treasurer of the Association of Osteobiology and chair of the 2009 Bones and Teeth Gordon Research Conference, roles in which he raised financial support for meetings.

“I feel honored to have been nominated for this position and to have received the support of ASBMR members in the election,” Boyce said. “I plan to use my experience to help maintain and grow the financial base of the ASBMR so that it can continue to support the best clinical and basic science. Despite the current economic challenges, the strong leadership team at ASBMR is well-equipped to maintain the Society’s position at the forefront of bone and mineral research.”