Society to Honor Didier Hans With Top Clinician Award

SAN DIEGO – February 2, 2006 – The International Society for Clinical Densitometry (ISCD), the world’s leading organization in the field of bone densitometry, will honor Geneva University Hospital’s Didier Hans, Ph.D., PD as the Society’s Clinician of the Year.

Dr. Hans has long been a tireless supporter of the ISCD and has been a member since the early days when few strictly academic researchers participated. His involvement has included: Member of the ISCD’s Scientific Advisory Committee since 2001, faculty member since 2001 for ISCD’s Clinician Bone Densitometry Courses in Europe, North Africa and Asia, served on ISCD’s Task Force “Osteoporosis in Men” for the 2003 Position Development Conference and chaired the 2005 Task Force on “WHO and Skeletal Sites.”

"It is a great honor for me to receive this award by my peers and it is highly encouraging to be recognized for all the effort I have put into my young career which is closer to a passion than a job,” said Dr. Hans. “I greatly thank those who coached me for many years as Profs PJ Meunier and HK Genant as well as those who are working and collaborating closely with me in Geneva but also around the world."

He is highly respected for his scientific approach and stringent work ethic.  He is a highly motivated, dedicated and innovative researcher which he applies in the context of training or participating on task forces, as he has done several times for the ISCD and International Osteoporosis Foundation.

When Dr. Hans was at the University of California at San Francisco, besides leading many state-of-the-art research projects, he served as a mentor and teacher to visiting researchers. The impressive number of abstracts, presentations and publications has made him recognized worldwide. He has over 70 peer reviewed publications and written 11 book chapters. His continuing research will lead to a better understanding of the utility of the DXA, QCT and QUS technologies.

ABOUT ISCD: The ISCD is a not-for-profit multidisciplinary professional society with a mission to enhance knowledge and quality of bone densitometry among healthcare professionals, to provide continuing education courses for clinicians and technologists, to increase patient awareness and access to bone densitometry, and to support clinical and scientific advances in the field.   

To address bone densitometry issues, the ISCD holds Position Development Conferences, whereby a panel of experts makes recommendations for official ISCD positions based the ISCD’s Scientific Advisory Committee review of scientific literature. Information on the Official Positions of ISCD is available on the organization’s Web site at www.iscd.org.

ABOUT CLINICAL DENSITOMETRY: Osteoporosis or bone loss that can lead to fractures is a disease that affects 44 million Americans, causing 1.5 million fractures each year, with an annual healthcare cost of about $17 billion. Osteoporotic fractures can result in chronic pain, disability, loss of independence, and even death. Early detection of low bone density before fractures occur is the key to successful management. With medications now available and under development, experts feel that osteoporosis is a preventable and treatable disease.

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For more information, please contact: Christer Osterling at 860.508.9433 or costerling@iscd.org