Jeffrey B Driban

Jeffrey B Driban, PhD, AT Ret, CSCS, is a Professor in the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School. He holds secondary appointments in Epidemiology at the T.H. Chan School of Medicine and Population Health Sciences at the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. His academic background includes a BS in Athletic Training from the University of Delaware, and both a Master of Education and Doctor of Philosophy in Kinesiology with an Emphasis in Athletic Training from Temple University, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship in Rheumatology at Tufts Medical Center.

Dr. Driban's research focuses on novel risk factors, biomarkers, and imaging markers for osteoarthritis. His work aims to optimize clinical trials and deepen understanding of osteoarthritis pathophysiology, phenotypes, and prevention strategies. He envisions a streamlined therapeutic pipeline using targeted population subsets and sensitive outcome measures to reduce the global burden of osteoarthritis. Key research areas include:

• Accelerated osteoarthritis progression mechanisms
• Imaging biomarkers for early detection
• Lifestyle interventions for primary/secondary prevention
• Environmental factors in hand osteoarthritis
• Machine learning applications in prognosis

His publication portfolio demonstrates consistent focus on osteoarthritis pathophysiology, diagnostic innovations (especially MRI and radiomics), and non-pharmacological interventions. Recent work emphasizes deep learning applications for automated lesion segmentation, biomechanical influences of activities like cycling/swimming, and prognostic modeling for end-stage disease. Longitudinal cohort analyses (e.g., Osteoarthritis Initiative) underpin much of this research.

Dr. Driban has secured multiple NIH grants as Principal Investigator, including R01AR076411 (2021-2026) on composite structural endpoints in knee osteoarthritis and R01AR081791 (2023-2026) investigating environmental factors in hand osteoarthritis. He chairs task groups for the Osteoarthritis Action Alliance and serves on editorial boards for the Journal of Rheumatology, BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, Journal of Athletic Training, and Arthritis Care & Research.