Dr Jos Runhaar is an Assistant Professor at the Department of General Practice of Erasmus MC. His research focusses on “Prevention and early treatment of osteoarthritis and other musculoskeletal diseases”. His research group (currently 12 PhD-students, 1 research-assistants, 2 clinician-researchers) aims to improve the diagnosis of musculoskeletal disorders by general practitioners and physiotherapists and to shift the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders to the early disease phase; even to a phase where primary prevention becomes possible.

Dr. Runhaar has a large (inter)national network and served many different scientific committees, including the Research & Training Committee (chair), Program Committee, Ethics & Governance Committee, and the Nomination Committee of OARSI, the Scientific Advisory Board for the Dutch Arthritis Society, the Organizing Committee for the OARSI Imaging Workshop (co-Chair), and multiple international Thesis Assessment Committees. Within the first 10 years after his PhD, dr. Runhaar was main applicant on successful grant applications at EULAR, International Society for Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery and Orthopaedic Sports Medicine (ISAKOS), Dutch Scientific College Physiotherapy, OARSI, Dutch Arthritis Society, the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC), and The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw), with a total of €1.5M.

He has published >100 peer-reviewed articles; the majority in the top 25% of impact factors within his field and most as first (19) or last author (15). In 2023, dr. Runhaar was awarded the ‘Rising Star Award for Clinical Research’ by OARSI.