Dr. Richard Bockman, MD, PhD, is an Endocrinologist at Hospital for Special Surgery and Professor of Medicine in the Endocrine Division at Weill Cornell Medical College since 1990. He is privileged to share the responsibilities of the clinical service with esteemed colleagues, Dr. Emily Stein who is in charge of the Endocrine Metabolic Bone Research Programs, and Drs. Jessica Starr and Katherine Haseltine in charge of the clinical programs.
As a Senior Scientist in the HSS Research Division, Dr. Bockman has directed basic and clinical research under NIH-sponsored grants and has published over 100 articles in many scientific and clinical journals, including Science, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, and Endocrinology.
Dr. Bockman is a Fellow of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR-where he has served on the Professional Practice Committee and as the Society’s representative to FASEB ), and a Member of Endocrine Society (where he served on the Clinical Endocrine Update steering committee and Ethics Committee). He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and served six years on the editorial board of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism and four years on an FDA advisory Committee and 3 years as a Director for the Advances in Mineral Metabolism Meeting, a mentoring venue for the ASBMR Haddad Fellows. Locally, Dr. Bockman serves on the Executive Committee of the NIH sponsored Endocrine Fellowship Committee at Weill Cornell and served many years on the Scientific Advisory Panel for the NIH funded Weill Cornell Clinical Translational Science Center and as the Vice Chair of the HSS Institutional Review Board.
The major objective of Dr. Bockman’s clinical and research efforts has been to elucidate the pathogenesis and genetic basis of metabolic bone diseases, including osteoporosis, and to develop new therapies for treating these disorders for the purpose of improving medical and surgical outcomes for HSS patients.
Dr. Bockman’s recent research has focused on clinical questions affecting the care of osteoporosis patients, including effects of specific pharmacologic therapies, and to expand our knowledge of the skeletal consequences of epidural steroids on bone metabolism. With a newly donated high-resolution peripheral CT-scanner, HSS is able to non-invasively establish the efficacy of treatment regimens within months as opposed to years with prior DXA methodologies. The team is rapidly initiating new collaborative studies with Medical and Orthopedic colleagues at HSS, NYPH and the larger NYC Medical Community. Dr. Bockman speaks for the Endocrine Service to express his profound appreciation to our patients, Donors, HSS Administration, Colleagues and Staff who have supported The Endocrine Service at HSS.
Internal Medicine, Endocrinology, Metabolic Bone
HSS Center for Regenerative Medicine
Osteoporosis and Metabolic Bone Health
Disorders of Bone and Mineral Metabolism
Osteoporosis
Hyperparathyroidism
Thyroid Disorders
Vitamin D Metabolism
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Attending Physician, Hospital for Special Surgery
Senior Scientist, Hospital for Special Surgery
Professor of Medicine, Endocrine Division, Weill Cornell Medical College
Attending Physician, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
Co-organizer, First International Conference: Prostaglandins and Cancer, Washington, DC
Co-organizer, International Conference on Prostaglandins and Cancer, Rome, Italy, 1986
Ad hoc Member of NIH study section on Bone Biochemistry
Member of the Scientific Advisory Panel, X-16 Beam Line -National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory - past
Visiting Professor- MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Co-director of the Metabolic Bone Service Hospital for Special Surgery, 1993-1996
Housestaff Admission Committee
Medical and Endocrine Attending
Consultant, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Consultant, Strang Cancer Prevention Clinic
Medical Advisory Panel, The Paget Foundation
Clinical Translational Science Center (WMC)
Scientific Advisory Committee (TRAC)
Former Vice Chair, Institutional Review Board, Hospital for Special Surgery
American Society for Clinical Investigation
Fellow-American College of Physicians
American Federation for Clinical Research
American Society for Bone and Mineral Research
Endocrine Society
New York Academy of Science
Harvey Society
Orthopaedic Research Society, 1992 – 1996
International Society of Clinical Densitometry
Internal Medicine
Member, The American Society of Clinical Investigation
Fellow, The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research
Castle Connolly Top Doctor - 20 Years
Castle Connolly America's Top Doctor, 2002-2020
Castle Connolly Top Doctors in New York Metro Area, 2002-2022
New York Magazine Top Doctors, 2002-206, 2009-2014, 2021-2022
MD, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, 1967
PhD, Rockefeller University, 1971
New York University Medical Center, Bellevue Program, New York
Weill Cornell Medical College, New York Hospital
English, French
Reviewer for:
The Journal of Clinical Investigation
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Journal of Clinical Oncology
Endocrinology
Immunology
Cancer Research
Prostaglandins
Journal of Bone and Mineral Metabolism
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (6 years on Editorial Board)
Leder BZ, Mitlak B, Hu MY, Hattersley G, Bockman RS. Effect of Abaloparatide vs Alendronate on Fracture Risk Reduction in Postmenopausal Women With Osteoporosis. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2020 Mar 1;105(3):938–43. doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgz162. Erratum in: J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2020 Aug 1;105(8): PMID: 31674644; PMCID: PMC7112966.
Krez A, Lane J, Heilbronner A, Park-Min KH, Kaneko K, Pannellini T, Mintz D, Hansen D, McMahon DJ, Kirou KA, Roboz G, Desai P, Bockman RS, Stein EM. Risk factors for multi-joint disease in patients with glucocorticoid-induced osteonecrosis. Osteoporos Int. 2021 Oct;32(10):2095-2103. doi: 10.1007/s00198-021-05947-x. Epub 2021 Apr 20. PMID: 33877383; PMCID: PMC8056829.
Liu Y, Carrino JA, Dash AS, Chukir T, Do H, Bockman RS, Hughes AP, Press JM, Stein EM. Lower Spine Volumetric Bone Density in Patients With a History of Epidural Steroid Injections. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2018 Sep 1;103(9):3405-3410. doi: 10.1210/jc.2018-00558. PMID: 29982535.
Gregory NS, Kumar R, Stein EM, Alexander E, Christos P, Bockman RS, Rodman JS. Potassium Citrate Decreases Bone Resorption in Postmenopausal Women with Osteopenia: A Randomized, Double-Blind Clinical Trial. Endocr Pract. 2015 Dec;21(12):1380-6. doi: 10.4158/EP15738.OR. Epub 2015 Sep 24. PMID: 26401577; PMCID: PMC5558825.
The major objective of the Dr. Bockman’s research is to elucidate the pathogenesis and genetic basis of metabolic bone diseases, including osteoporosis, and to develop new therapies for treating these diseases.
Current clinical research is being conducted through four active protocols at the Weill-Cornell Clinical Translational Science Center (CTSC) with former HSS - Endocrine Fellow, Dr. Naina Sinha (now Assistant Attending Physician at NYPH), and with former WMC-Fellow, Dr. Emily Stein. Please note that Dr. Bockman served as the mentor for Dr. Stein, who was awarded an NIH-sponsored CREFF award to carry out her research, and was the first to receive a Cornell “Masters Degree in Clinical Research” awarded through the WMC-CTSC.
In one on-going prospective CTSC-study, alterations in bone metabolism are studied in morbidly and super obese patients being evaluated for Roux-en-Y gastric bypass or biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch. At baseline and at various time points over 18 months post-operatively markers of bone turnover, calcitropic hormones and changes in bone density are followed. We specifically obtain anthropomorphic measurements, calcium, vit D and total caloric intake, serum calcium, 25-hydroxy vit D (25-OH VitD), intact PTH and urinary calcium, markers of bone formation, osteocalcin (OC) and bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BSAP), and bone resorption, urine N-telopeptide (u-NTx) along with bone mineral density assessed by heel ultrasound, since the weight limit for standard densitometry is 300 pounds.
In the second CTSC study, we have initiated a clinical trial examining the efficacy of two regimens to replace vitamin D in D-deficient bariatric subjects.
The third CTSC study examines the role of potassium citrate in preserving bone mass in osteopenic, post-menopausal women.
A fourth CTSC study studies vitamin D status in the W-CIMA patient population with regards to their response to bisphosphonate therapies.
Basic research has examined the following topics:
Gallium Nitrate: Transient and stably transfected osteoblasts have been used to study the effects of gallium, a unique transitional element on the expression of specific matrix genes. Various aspects of cell-signaling that can lead to alterations in bone-matrix gene expression have been studied. Such studies can provide the scientific rationale for the development of clinical protocols measuring the ability of gallium to prevent and treat osteoporosis.
Cell and Molecular Regulation of Collagenase Gene Expression: Cell mediated damage to the major matrix components of connective tissues is an early and critical step in the pathogenesis of destructive arthritic diseases. Type I collagen is the major organic component of bone. In order to develop new therapeutic strategies for preserving and protecting connective tissue, a better understanding of the cellular controls on the degradation and synthesis of the key matrix components is required.
Genetics of Osteoporosis and Fragility fractures: While it is generally acknowledged that many of the factors that determine bone strength are genetically determined, little is known about which genes determine bone strength or how those genes might be affected by epistatic interactions. Recent studies with Dr. R. Blank in a recombinant-congenic mouse model (HcB/Dem) have demonstrated quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for failure load, a measure of a bone's overall strength. Moreover, by mapping QTLs for a variety of bone phenotypes in this system, we have shown that the relevant QTLs are often pleiotropic, each affecting distinct subsets of independently measured phenotypes: diaphyseal diameter, structural stiffness, ash percentage, and body mass. The mapping data, therefore, allow prediction of the general mechanisms as well as the locations by which the identified QTLs affect bone strength.
HSS has a long history of supporting appropriate relationships with industry because they advance HSS's mission to provide the highest quality patient care, improve patient mobility, and enhance the quality of life for all, and to advance the science of orthopedic surgery, rheumatology, and their related disciplines through research and education.
As of May 11, 2024, Dr. Bockman reported no relationships with the healthcare industry.
HSS and its physicians make this information available to patients and the public, thus creating a transparent environment for those who are interested in this information. Further, the HSS Conflicts of Interest and Commitment Policy prohibits physicians from collecting royalties on products they develop that are used on patients at HSS.
