Dr. Hyon Choi is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School as well as the Director of Clinical Epidemiology and Health Outcomes Research in the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Senior Research Scientist at Arthritis Research Canada.
Dr. Choi’s research interests lie in core issues of rheumatic disorders ranging from common inflammatory arthritis (e.g. gout, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis) to rare but serious inflammatory conditions (e.g. systemic vasculitis). However, his primary interest is in gout and other crystal arthropathies, and he has more than two decades’ experience (with > 200 peer-reviewed publications) investigating the prevalence and incidence of gout as well as its cardio-kidney-metabolic comorbidity burden, persistent premature mortality, and comparative effectiveness of treatments.
Dr. Choi’s recent work on gout has attracted widespread scientific and public interest. Gout is a common inflammatory arthritis frequently resulting in substantial disability, occupational limitations, and extensive utilization of medical services. However, scientific data on the causes and risk factors for gout (i.e. key data for prevention and management of the condition) remained limited.Dr. Choi’s recent research has clarified important risk factors of gout based on large prospective cohorts (like individuals differing in specific characteristics): the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (51,529 men) and Nurses’ Health Study (121,700 women). Some of these data have recently been published in top medical journals including the New England Journal of Medicine (4), Lancet (5), and Archives of Internal Medicine (3). Dr. Richard Johnson stated in the accompanying perspective article in the New England Journal of Medicine that “The study thus provides scientific verification of the long-standing view that gout is most common among people whose diet is rich in meats and low in dairy products”.
Dr. Choi also led a large population study on the survival benefit of methotrexate in rheumatoid arthritis, a prototypic chronic progressive inflammatory disorder associated with substantial morbidity and premature death (8). Although methotrexate has been the most frequent choice of antirheumatic therapy for RA over the last two decades, its effect on mortality remained unknown. Using state-of-the-art epidemiologic methods, Dr. Choi’s study found that methotrexate provided a significant survival benefit, largely by reducing cardiovascular death. These findings are directly relevant and important to many patients with rheumatoid arthritis and rheumatologists treating them. Further, the elevated risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with RA and the emerging consensus that chronic inflammation plays a major role in cardiovascular disease has put this work at the front line of several exciting medical fields. The importance of this work with an urgent need for early dissemination was recognized by the Lancet, where the work was published through its fast track publication process.
Furthermore, Dr. Choi’s work extends to the fields of medical decision-making, health policy and management, where strikingly increasing medical care costs have become one of the most difficult budgetary issues facing many countries. One of his papers on the cost-effectiveness of biologic therapy in rheumatoid arthritis was acknowledged by the British NHS database for Reviews and Dissemination (9). Furthermore his work on Cox-2 inhibitors (6) outlined a computer model prediction that closely aligned with Merck sand Pfizer’s recent trial results that led to the voluntary withdrawal of their widely used Cox-2 inhibitors (Vioxx and Bextra).
During his career Dr. Choi has contributed to his profession by reviewing for the National Institutes of Health and for editorial boards of major medical journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, Lancet, and Arthritis & Rheumatism. His contribution to the scientific literature, both as an author and co-author, includes more than 100 publications and he has been an invited speaker at conferences around the world.
