Professor Jacqueline Center

Professor Jacqueline Center qualified as an endocrinologist in 1993, obtaining a Master of Epidemiology in 1995 and a PhD in 1999. She has been working on clinical and epidemiological studies related to osteoporotic fracture and its outcomes for over 25 years and has been one of the principal researchers in the Dubbo Osteoporosis Epidemiology Study. She has pioneered work on consequences of fracture including the high risk of refracture and premature mortality that has resulted in international collaborations involving investigators from several large epidemiological studies throughout Europe, Canada and the US.

Jacqueline has also been involved in other areas of translational research and led one of the first set of studies that demonstrated a lack of treatment for osteoporosis following hip fracture and that improvement in treatment rates only occurred after initiation of treatment by hospital personnel and not information alone. This work has led to her being chair of the Osteoporosis working group for the NSW Musculoskeletal Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI) and joining the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) Taskforce on Osteoporotic Fracture Secondary Prevention. This was the foundation for the introduction of Fracture Liaison Services, now mandated in NSW. She is also involved in several national and international organizations including the Scientific Advisory Board of Healthy Bones Australia, Research Committee of the Australian and New Zealand Bone and Mineral Society, and Editorial board member of BMC Geriatrics. As a practicing endocrinologist, primarily working in the bone field she gives regular educational talks to the general public and medical practitioners.