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.

Last month, the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine Collaborative Research Network (AMSSM CRN), housed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, recently hosted a national research conference focused on one of the most rapidly evolving and debated areas in sports medicine – orthobiologics.

Led by Stephanie Kliethermes, PhD, a research associate professor in the UW Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation at the School of Medicine and Public Health, the conference – Orthobiologics for Sports Medicine Physicians: Bridging the Gaps – took place April 23–24, 2026, in Seattle, Washington, as a pre-conference to the annual meeting of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine.

Orthobiologics, which include treatments such as platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and cell-based therapies, have become increasingly common in sports and exercise medicine. Yet questions remain regarding their clinical effectiveness, appropriate use, and implementation in practice. As research in the field continues to expand rapidly, sports medicine physicians are navigating a complex and often polarized landscape.

The conference was designed to clarify these challenges by convening approximately 300 multidisciplinary experts, clinicians, and researchers from across the country. Ahead of the meeting, writing groups synthesized current evidence and identified knowledge gaps in key topic areas, including PRP for tendinopathy, platelet-based therapies for muscle injuries, and cell-based therapies for osteoarthritis.

The two-day conference featured sessions on basic science, translational research, and clinical application, while also fostering collaborative discussion through a structured consensus-building process. Organizers used the meeting to help establish future research priorities that can guide both investigators and practicing clinicians.

Following the conference, leaders compiled the consensus findings into an AMSSM research priorities statement on orthobiologics in sports medicine. The results will be disseminated through academic journals, websites, podcasts, and social media platforms to reach clinicians, researchers, and patients alike.

By bringing together experts from diverse disciplines, the conference helped advance evidence-based care and provide greater clarity on the role of orthobiologics in sports medicine practice.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are leading a groundbreaking multi-institutional research study to better understand and reduce musculoskeletal injuries among high-level basketball players. The study, titled “Musculoskeletal Injury Profiling of Elite Basketball Players: A Framework for Injury Mitigation Strategies Through Integration of Biomechanics, Imaging and Data Analytics,” began in August 2025 and will run through July 2026.

This research is made possible through UW-Madison’s collaboration with the NBA, National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), GE HealthCare, and Springbok Analytics, which are collectively providing expertise and technology capabilities to support advanced athlete monitoring, leading-edge imaging analysis, funding, and additional resources.

The project’s Principal Investigator is Dr. Bryan Heiderscheit, Frederick Gaenslen Professor in Orthopedics and Vice Chair for Research in the UW Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, and Director of UW Badger Athletic Performance. The UW research team includes Drs. Matthew Blomquist, Naoaki Ito, Mikel Joachim, Kenneth Lee, and Jack Martin, and research coordinators, Alex Gruber and Claire Tanaka. Also critical to the project’s success are the teams’ athletic training and strength and conditioning staff, and the personnel at the additional research sites: Brigham Young University (BYU) and the Technical University of Munich, Germany.

The current study builds on the collaboration’s 2023-24 NBA G League pilot. The UW research team led the analysis of that pilot study, and the insights gained informed and expanded the scope of the present work. The current season-long study prospectively monitors potential risk factors for injury among collegiate and adolescent basketball players by leveraging movement biomechanics, magnetic resonance (MR) and quantitative ultrasound imaging techniques, strength assessments, and player training load. The study also utilizes Springbok’s 3D muscle volume quantification analysis of MR images to establish a detailed anatomical reference, enabling biomechanics, strength, and workload data to be mapped and analyzed over time in relation to injury and recovery. Before the competitive season, athletes participating in the study underwent a detailed data collection session to measure tendon and muscle characteristics and strength. Then, at key points during and at the end of the season, these assessments are repeated – with additional testing when injuries occur to track severity and recovery.

Ultimately, through these regular, detailed assessments, including the use of a novel ultrasound technique developed at UW to measure ankle ligament stability, Dr. Heiderscheit and his team aim to better understand factors contributing to common lower-body injuries and how athletes recover to full performance.