Josh Roth, PhD, an assistant professor in the UW Departments of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation and Mechanical Engineering, has received a five-year $630,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award to advance research on knee joint instability and its role in osteoarthritis.

While joint instability often limits mobility and accelerates the progression of osteoarthritis, the root cause of this instability is not well understood. Dr. Roth’s project aims to untangle the contributions of ligaments and muscles to joint stability, providing tools and insights that could lead to more personalized and effective treatments.

“Understanding joint instability is a tricky problem because the ligaments and muscles work together to stabilize the joint,” Roth says. “It’s really difficult using existing techniques to determine which structure is contributing to stability or which structure is deficient in someone who has an unstable joint.”

With support from his NSF CAREER Award, Dr. Roth will develop an active knee exoskeleton and novel measurement techniques to provide researchers with tools to help determine whether instability stems primarily from ligament damage, muscle weakness, or a combination of both. This information could help clinicians better tailor treatment strategies, from rehabilitation programs to surgical interventions.

“Many patients, especially those with severe osteoarthritis, will require both surgical treatment and rehabilitation. Figuring out how ligaments and muscles work together to stabilize the knee will inform the surgery as well as the post-surgery rehabilitation to really help an individual patient get back to their activities,” Roth says.

While the project focuses on knee osteoarthritis, the methods Dr. Roth is developing may also be applied to other joint conditions. A portion of the award will support educational initiatives, including undergraduate engineering design projects and entrepreneurship training that teaches students how to identify and address real-world healthcare needs.

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Read more about Dr. Roth’s NSF CAREER Award and his efforts to improve the diagnosis and treatment of osteoarthritis on the UW College of Engineering website.

The NSF CAREER Award is the foundation’s premier award for early-career faculty. It recognizes researchers who demonstrate the potential to serve as academic role models through outstanding research and education.

Wan-Ju Li, PhD

Wan-Ju Li, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, and fellow researchers Wei Xu, PhD, a professor in the Department of Oncology, and Nathan Welham, PhD, CCC-SLP, a professor in the Department of Otolaryngology, received a $50,000 Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center Focus Group Award, supported by a WARF gift, for their project, Stage-Resolved Regulation of Human Neural Crest Differentiation for Cartilage and Bone Generation.

Running from March 1, 2026, through February 28, 2027, this collaborative pilot study will strengthen musculoskeletal research at UW-Madison while laying the groundwork for future external funding. The team will refine a human-induced pluripotent stem cell model of neural crest-derived cells, which play a central role in the formation of cartilage, bone, and connective tissues of the face and head.

While the work is focused on craniofacial cartilage and bone, its significance could extend far beyond the craniofacial region. By learning how to better direct neural crest cells into skeletal tissues, the team hopes to uncover principles that could also be applied to orthopedic repair in joints such as the knee and hip. That is especially exciting because neural crest-derived nasal chondrocytes have already shown strong regenerative potential in translational and clinical studies for articular cartilage repair, including treatment of knee cartilage defects and osteoarthritic knees in Europe.

In the long term, this work could help drive a shift in cell therapy by advancing neural crest-derived cells as a powerful and practical platform for regenerating cartilage and bone. Because these cells are accessible and highly cartilage competent, they may offer important advantages over more conventional cell sources. For clinical orthopedics, the potential payoff is clear: better strategies for repairing focal cartilage injuries, improving osteochondral healing, and developing more durable biologic treatments for joint degeneration.

UW Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation faculty were recognized with prestigious honors at the 2026 Annual Meeting of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) in Seattle. Department Chair Dr. Tamara Scerpella received the Orthopedic Surgeon Excellence Award, becoming only the second recipient of this national honor. The award recognizes a surgeon who exemplifies collaboration, exceptional patient care, mutual respect, camaraderie, and a passion for helping athletes and active individuals of all ages. Dr. Scerpella was nominated by UW colleague Dr. Erin Hammer, who also presented the award at the meeting.

Associate Professor Andrew Watson, MD, received the Best Overall Research Abstract Award for his study, The Influence of Remote Mindfulness on Patient-Reported Outcomes Following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction. This marks the second time Dr. Watson has earned the distinction, having previously received the award in 2023. The recognition continues UW-Madison’s remarkable success in sports medicine research, with UW faculty earning the award in six of the past seven years. Together, these honors reflect the department’s ongoing leadership in patient care, education, and innovative research that advances the field of sports medicine.

We are proud to share that David Bernhardt, MD, has been named the recipient of the 2026 Andy Hipskind Distinguished Big Ten Team Physician Award, one of the Big Ten Conference’s highest honors in athletic medicine.

The award recognizes outstanding leadership, service, and dedication to student-athlete health across the conference. Dr. Bernhardt has served Wisconsin Athletics for more than 31 years as a team physician, educator, and mentor, earning widespread respect for his compassionate care, thoughtful leadership, and unwavering commitment to putting student-athletes first.

In addition to his work with Wisconsin Athletics, Dr. Bernhardt has made a lasting impact through his roles as a professor in the UW Departments of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation and Pediatrics, and as co-director of the Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship, helping to train the next generation of sports medicine professionals.

As he prepares to retire in June 2026, this recognition celebrates a remarkable career devoted to excellence in patient care, education and mentorship, and advocacy for student-athlete well-being.

Read more about Dr. Bernhardt here.

Andrew Watson, MD, associate professor in the UW Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation and director of the UW Human Performance Lab, has received a 2026 Freedom of Movement (FOM) Award in support of his research project, “The Interaction of Surface Type and Heat Stress to Influence Musculoskeletal Injury and Concussion Risk in Youth Athletes.” The award provides internal funding for a large-scale, data-driven study aimed at reducing injury risk in youth sports through evidence-based match scheduling.

Dr. Watson’s project addresses a critical gap in youth athletics. Although the risks associated with heat, playing surfaces, and competition demands are increasingly recognized, there is currently no evidence-based framework to guide match scheduling in ways that protect young athletes. This study will be among the first to prospectively combine real-world injury surveillance with detailed weather and playing surface data from elite youth soccer events across the United States, examining how heat stress, surface type, age, gender, and time of day interact to influence musculoskeletal injury and concussion risk.

A key strength of the project is its scale and real-world setting, made possible through a collaboration with the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL), the nation’s premier youth soccer development and competition platform, and the ECNL’s Center for Athlete Health and Performance. Dr. Watson’s lab has partnered with the ECNL for several years on initiatives related to athlete well-being, including mental health and injury prevention.

“Our collaboration with the ECNL,” said Dr. Watson, “has resulted in a fantastic opportunity to generate specific evidence that can translate into real-world interventions to benefit young athletes. This project builds on that relationship by advancing our understanding of how environmental factors influence injury risk and helping to develop a truly innovative approach to match scheduling that optimizes player health and safety.”

For this study, the ECNL is providing access to national injury surveillance data and match scheduling information. Certified athletic trainers at more than 40 ECNL national events will collect detailed injury information, allowing the research team to calculate precise injury rates across different age groups, genders, and playing surfaces. Data will be collected from events totaling an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 player-hours, providing the statistical power needed to identify meaningful injury patterns and interactions among multiple risk factors.

Injury surveillance data will be paired with historical local weather data to calculate wet bulb globe temperature, a standard measure of heat stress. This integrated approach will enable a more nuanced understanding of how environmental conditions influence injury risk in youth athletes.

The potential impact of this work is substantial. By examining how environmental and structural factors intersect, the research aims to identify previously unmeasured injury risk patterns and translate findings into practical, scalable match scheduling strategies that better protect young athletes while preserving competitive integrity. These findings could ultimately serve as a model for injury prevention, not only in youth soccer, but across a wide range of youth sports nationwide.

Collaborators on this project include Jennifer Sanfilippo, PhD, assistant director of sports medicine within UW Athletics and coordinator of Badger Athletic Performance, Christian Lavers, MBA, JD, president and CEO of the ECNL, and Kristin Haraldsdottir, PhD, a research scientist within the UW Human Performance Lab. Together, the team brings expertise in athletic performance, sports administration, injury epidemiology, and applied research, ensuring the project’s findings will be both rigorous and impactful.

“We are truly grateful to the UW Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation for the support of this ongoing work,” said Dr. Watson.