Co-Directors
Alex Robling is the Vincent H. Gattone II Professor of Anatomy & Cell Biology, and Chair of the Department of Anatomy, Cell Biology & Physiology at the Indiana University School of Medicine. His laboratory seeks to discover the molecular mechanisms by which bone tissue senses mechanical loading, by studying how several signal transduction pathways affect bone accumulation, and how cellular activity is altered by mechanical stimulation. This goal is addressed by investigating bone cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis, after mechanical loading in mice harboring various mutations in the Wnt/Akt/Bmp signaling pathways. The role of these pathways in mechanical disuse is also studied, using several in vivo models of disuse osteoporosis.
Teresita Bellido, PhD, is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology in the College of Medicine of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), USA. She has joint appointments in the UAMS Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, and in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. Dr. Bellido is also a Research Career Scientist, at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System – John L. McClellan Memorial Hospital, in Little Rock, Arkansas.
She is a highly respected scientist, internationally known leader in bone research, highly committed also to mentorship and faculty development. Her research focuses on signal transduction in bone and muscle, with particular emphasis on osteocyte biology in health and disease and the mechanisms of hormonal action in the musculoskeletal system.
Dr. Bellido holds multiple major grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Veterans Administration. She served in multiple NIH Study sections and chaired the Skeletal Biology Development and Disease Study Section (2022-2024). Dr. Bellido is past president (2020) of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR). She is also co-Chair (with Alex Robling) of the Orthopedic Research Society (ORS) Workshop of Musculoskeletal Biology (previously at Sun Valley); and faculty and co-Director (with John Bilezikian) of the Endocrine Fellows Forum (EFF), a training tool for physicians and scientists in bone and mineral metabolism.
For her scientific and mentoring efforts, Bellido was awarded the Women Faculty Leadership Award and the Outstanding Postdoc Mentor Award in 2015 by Indiana University. In addition, she received the 2015 ASBMR Paula Stern Achievement Award, the 2018 ASBMR Gideon A. Rodan Excellence in Mentorship Award, and the 2022 ASBMR Stephen M. Krane Award, given in recognition of outstanding achievements in basic, translational, or clinical research in inflammation and/or skeletal matrix biology.
Dr. Bellido is Senior Associate Editor of the ASBMR Primer on the Metabolic Bone Diseases of Mineral Metabolism, 10th Ed., Editorial Board Member for Bone, served as Deputy Editor for JBMR Plus and in the editorial board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and held editorial and contributing roles for numerous other publications.
Scientific Advisory Board
Meghan McGee-Lawrence, PhD, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University
Marjolein C. van der Meulen, PhD, Cornell University
Joel Boerckel, PhD, University of Pennsylvania
X Edward Guo, PhD, Columbia University
Aris Economides, PhD, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Gabriela Loots, PhD, University of California, Davis
