This is the second in a series of interviews we are conducting with each of our first-year research assistants about their OrACORe experience so far. Aleks Kostic joined OrACORe as a research assistant after graduating from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science with a minor in Dance in 2020. The summer after her freshman year…

This is the first in a series of interviews we are conducting with each of our first-year research assistants about their OrACORe experience so far. Zoe Zimmerman began working as an OrACORe research assistant in the summer of 2020 after graduating from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry. Outside of the classroom, she spent…

This is the final piece of a two-part series on the history and continuation of the MeTeOR (Meniscal Tear in Osteoarthritis Research) trial. In this installment, we spoke with OrACORe directors Jeffrey Katz, MD, Msc and Elena Losina, PhD about their expectations for MeTeOR's 12-year follow up, which set to begin in the spring of 2021. In the first installment…

One of OrACORe’s founding studies is the MeTeOR (Meniscal Tear in Osteoarthritis Research) trial, which was conceptualized in 2002, enrolled its first participant in 2008, and recently obtained funding to perform a final 12-year follow-up visit. MeTeOR is a randomized controlled trial designed to compare outcomes of arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM) and nonoperative physical therapy in persons with knee osteoarthritis…

Corin Bronsther (CB), Elizabeth Stanley (ES), Nora Lenhard (NL), and Jamie Huizinga (JH) joined OrACORe as research assistants during the summer of 2018 and are now in the final days of their second year with us. We are extremely grateful for their hard work, dedication, and good spirits and will miss their presence in the office (virtual or not!). Here…

Lindsey A. MacFarlane, MD, MPH OrACORe’s newest study, INFORM (Inflammation and Osteoarthritis at the Brigham), is just getting started! Leading the project is Dr. Lindsey A. MacFarlane, MD, MPH, a practicing rheumatologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a clinical investigator at OrACORe. She shared her inspiration for studying knee osteoarthritis, details on the INFORM study, and insights into grant…

This is the fifth in a series of interviews we are conducting with each of our first-year research assistants about their OrACORe experience so far. Val Leifer began working as an OrACORe research assistant in the summer of 2019, after graduating from Harvard College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology with a minor in English.…

This is the fourth in a series of interviews we are conducting with each of our first-year research assistants about their OrACORe experience so far. Peter Bensen joined OrACORe as a research assistant in the summer of 2019 after returning to the U.S. from Indonesia, where he taught English for a year as a Fulbright scholar. He graduated in 2018…

Former OrACORe/PIVOT and COMET T-32 fellow and current orthopaedic surgery resident Dr. Kiran Agarwal-Harding has been traveling to Malawi for over two years now, adding to his research portfolio on global orthopaedic trauma care. In early October, Dr. Agarwal-Harding traveled there again, this time to Lilongwe with a small team of Boston orthopaedic surgeons, including Dr. George Dyer from Brigham…

This is the third in a series of interviews we are conducting with each of our first-year research assistants about their OrACORe experience so far. Michael calls Connecticut his home but enjoys travelling abroad. He spent two trimesters at the University of Oxford during his undergraduate years (photo courtesy of Zarra). Michael Zarra joined OrACORe as a research assistant after…