![](https://hes.wfu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Steve.jpg)
Bio
Stephen P. Messier, Ph.D.
Dr. Messier is Professor and Director of the J.B Snow Biomechanics Laboratory at Wake
Forest University. He has been at Wake Forest for 42 years and has 32 years of
experience in clinical trials research specifically related to knee osteoarthritis (OA). He
has received the lifetime achievement award from the Osteoarthritis Research Society
International (2022), the Borelli Award from the American Society of Biomechanics
(2020) for outstanding career accomplishment through exemplary research in
biomechanics, and the career achievement award from the American College of Sports
Medicine Biomechanics Group (2009). He has published over 125 original manuscripts
including 20 over the past 5 years. He and his OA research team are well known for their
work on the effects of exercise and weight loss on gait, strength, function, and pain in
knee OA.
Dr. Messier is currently the principal investigator of the multi-center The Osteoarthritis
Prevention Study (TOPS). TOPS is a primary prevention intervention trial of dietary
weight loss, exercise, and weight-loss maintenance for females (N = 1230) at risk for the
development of knee osteoarthritis designed to reduce incident structural and
symptomatic knee osteoarthritis. Previously, Dr. Messier 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), the Intensive Diet and Exercise
for Arthritis (IDEA) study, the Strength Training for Arthritis Trial (START), and the
Weight loss and Exercise for Communities with Arthritis in North Carolina (WE-CAN).
WE-CAN was a pragmatic randomized clinical trial of 823 older adults with knee OA, and
overweight and obesity that is designed to determine if the diet and exercise intervention
implemented in a highly controlled efficacy trial (IDEA) could be successfully
implemented in diverse community settings. These studies are funded with grants from
the National Institutes of Health, the Arthritis Foundation, and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
Dr. Messier is also the director of the Wake Forest Runners’ Clinic that uses the skills of
physical therapists, orthopedic surgeons, health psychologists, biostatisticians, and
biomechanists to determine the causes of overuse injuries in runners. Currently, he was
the principal investigator of The Runners And Injury Longitudinal Study (TRAILS): Injury
Recovery, and the Strength Training And Runners’ Study (STARS), both which were
funded by the United States Army.
Dr. Messier was on the Board of Directors for the Osteoarthritis Research Society
International (OARSI) from 2014-2018, the leading scientific organization devoted
exclusively to osteoarthritis. He is the past chair of the OARSI Fiscal Committee. He is
an associate editor of Arthritis and Rheumatology, the official journal of the American
College of Rheumatology.
Additional Information
Articles:
Winston Salem Journal Knee Pain August 2016
Sticht Center on Aging - Vital News START Article Spring 2012
Wake Forest News Center: Running research November 2010
Wake Forest Magazine, One to One, Spring 2010 Spring 2010
IDEA Winston Salem Journal February 2008
Wake Forest Magazine Relentless June 2005
Videos:
ASB 2020 Borelli award winner, Keynote Presentation
Title: Affecting the biomechanical osteoarthritis disease pathway with exercise and diet: A randomized clinical trial approach
Intense Strength Training Does Not Ease Knee Pain, Study Finds - February 2021
Beating Knee Osteoarthritis-April 2019
A prospective look at the risk factors for overuse running injuries. Summer 2018
Weight Loss & Joint Pain (Good Morning America) 2018
Great Debate. Osteoarthritis Research Society International Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, NV April 2017.
Faculty Recognition Video 2016
Idea Study (WXII 12 News) 2013