
Professor Emma Clark
B.Sc., M.B.,B.S.(Lond.), M.Sc., Ph.D.(Bristol), F.R.C.P
Expertise
I am Professor of Clinical Musculoskeletal Epidemiology and a Consultant Rheumatologist. Deputy Head of Bristol Medical School, and Head of Translational Health Sciences
Current positions
Professor of Clinical Musculoskeletal Epidemiology & Deputy Head of Bristol Medical School & Head of
Bristol Medical School (THS)
Contact
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Biography
Emma qualified in Medicine from St George’s Hospital Medical School, University of London, in 1996 after completing an intercalated BSc in 1993. Following physician training in Norwich she moved to Bristol and was awarded a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Training Fellowship in 2003. She completed a one-year MSc in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2004, a Certificate in Teaching and Learning for Health Professionals in 2006 and a PhD at the University of Bristol in 2007. Emma was then awarded an Arthritis Research UK Clinician Scientist Fellowship at the University of Bristol in 2007, using this as a springboard for her successful research programme into the identification and management of older people with osteoporotic vertebral fractures.
Research interests
Emma has expertise in primary care-based randomised controlled trials, population-based cohort studies, utilisation of imaging particularly DXA for research purposes, and automated image analysis. She works across specialties and has ongoing academic collaborations with orthopaedic surgeons, computer engineers, qualitative researchers, statisticians and health economists. Her programme of work on vertebral fractures involves production and evaluation of a clinical tool (Vfrac) to screen older women with back pain for vertebral fractures. The outputs of this programme of work are likely to have a major benefit in reducing fracture risk within the older population, and will change clinical practice in the UK and possibly elsewhere. Emma is regularly invited to speak nationally and internationally, and has been appointed to various national bodies including the Clinical and Scientific Advisory Board of the Royal Osteoporosis Society, the Musculoskeletal Research Advisory Group for Versus Arthritis, and NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme research panels. She examines for higher degrees internally and externally. She is an active Associate Editor for one international journal (Journal of Bone and Mineral Research Plus), and for Rheumatology (highest ranking journal in the field).
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
LEAP Flex Fund : Predicting Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Activity Study (PRADA Study)
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (THS)Dates
01/03/2025 to 28/02/2026
Publications
Recent publications
01/01/2025Cardiovascular risk assessment for osteoporosis patients considering Romosozumab
Bone
An online clinical decision tool to screen for vertebral fragility fractures (Vfrac) in older women presenting with back pain in general practice
Archives of Osteoporosis
Applicability of Vfrac in men: a qualitative study of an osteoporotic vertebral fracture screening tool for use in older people with back pain
Archives of Osteoporosis
Exploring practice and perspectives on shared decision-making about osteoporosis medicines in Fracture Liaison Services
Archives of Osteoporosis
Improving patients’ experiences of diagnosis and treatment of vertebral fracture
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
Thesis
An investigation into the role of bone mass and other factors in determining fracture risk in children
Supervisors
Award date
01/01/2007