Professor Ian Reid - 2019 ANZBMS Career Achievement Award

Professor Ian Reid is the recipient of the ANZBMS Career Achievement Award for 2019. This award recognises Ian’s outstanding contributions to scientific and clinical research, excellence in teaching, and services to the field of musculoskeletal medicine.

Professor Ian Reid, MD FRACP FRCP Ian Reid is a Distinguished Professor in Medicine at the University of Auckland. Professor Reid is the leader of the internationally renowned research group in several important areas of basic and clinical bone and mineral research.

Professor Reid has been both a pioneer and international leader in the investigation numerous clinical studies which impact on the treatment of patients with osteoporosis and other conditions including Paget’s disease.

Professor Reid published the first study of oral pamidronate in the treatment of glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis in the Lancet. Subsequently, he participated in, and helped design, the key randomised controlled trials of all of the major bisphosphonates on which we base our treatment guidelines for osteoporosis. A major contribution of Professor Reid to the field has been in the use of zoledronic acid in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis and in Paget’s disease of bone. Professor Reid performed the initial dose finding study of effects of zoledronic acid on bone mineral density and bone turnover markers, which informed the design of the pivotal HORIZON study. This latter study confirmed the efficacy of zoledronic acid in vertebral, non-vertebral and hip fracture reduction in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.

Recently, Professor Reid emphatically challenged current dogma by showing that four 18-month infusions of zoledronic acid reduced vertebral and non-vertebral fractures in older postmenopausal women with osteopenia. His group has also shown that a single infusion of zoledronic acid can suppress bone turnover markers for up to 12 years in men with HIV. These studies have led to a revision of our clinical use of zoledronic acid, which is clinically relevant in balancing the benefits and risks of treatment.

Professor Reid has mentored those within his group to be independently successful and also to challenge other existing dogma, particularly relating to the use of calcium supplementation in reducing fractures and its safety.

Professor Reid is one of the mostly cited researchers at the University of Auckland and has served his University at the highest level, previously being Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. He is a past-president of the International Bone and Mineral Society and a recipient of the Bartter Award from the American Society of Bone & Mineral Research and the Haddad Award from the European Calcified Tissue Society.  In 2015 and 2019 he was awarded the Liley Medal and the 2015 Rutherford Medal and together with his research group received the 2015 Prime Minister’s Science Prize. More recently, his academic achievements were recognised by being made a Distinguished Professor, the University’s highest honour.

Professor Reid’s award was received at the 2019 ANZBMS Annual Scientific Meeting in Darwin, Australia.

Publication Date: 24 November 2019

Publication Date : 24 November 2019