Prof. S.M.A. (Sita) Bierma-Zeinstra MD PhD

Introduction 

Professor Sita Bierma-Zeinstra completed her PhD in 1999 at the department of General Practice of Erasmus MC, and became professor of Osteoarthritis and Related Disorders in 2010. 

She now is leading the Osteoarthritis Research Group at the Department of General Practice, Erasmus MC, is head of clinical research at the Orthopedic Department, Erasmus MC, and supervises a group of more than 25 researchers. 

All research projects are related to osteoarthritis and consist mainly of large scale randomized clinical trials and prospective cohort studies. 

Early stage OA treatment and prevention have her specific interest. 

She is also heading the international OA Trial Bank that performs meta-analysis with individual trial data to identify osteoarthritis subgroups with better effect of certain treatment. 

Sita Bierma-Zeinstra published widely (> 400 peer-reviewed publications listed in pubmed) in the area of osteoarthritis and related disorders.

Other positions 

• Member of the OsteoArthritis Research International (OARSI): OA treatment guidelines committee, 2005-present. 
• Associate editor of Osteoarthritis and Cartilage (OAC), 2016-present. 
• Member of the National NOV guideline committee for diagnosis and treatment of medial compartment osteoarthritis, 2019-present. 
• Member of the Scientific board of Anna Foundation, 2013-present. 
• Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Arthritis UK Pain Centre at the University of Nottingham, 2015-present. 
• Member of the Ethical Committee of OsteoArthritis Research International (OARSI), 2017-present. 
• Member of the Swedish Research Council (clinical therapy research), 2019-present. 
• Chair of the Academic Center for Bone & Joint, Erasmus MC Rotterdam, 2017-present. 
• Chair of the OA Trial Bank, 2013-present. 

Scholarships, grants, and awards 

• Anna Prize 2007/2008 Award for excellent biomedical musculoskeletal research in the Netherlands. 
• PhD Supervisor of the year 2013, which is a yearly award at Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre Rotterdam. 
• OsteoArthritis Research International (OARSI) clinical research award winner of 2015, recognizing international excellence in clinical research in OA over the past five years. 
• Received grants of Arthrits Association, Netherlands Institute of Health Science and Development, Foundation for Research in Rheumatology, and European Union.