• Numerous jobs linked to increased risk of knee osteoarthritis
• Workload linked with an increased risk of knee osteoarthritis
• Knee OA guidance for clinicians simplified and streamlined
• Size does matter

Thomas completed his PhD at the Versus Arthritis Centre, University of Manchester, in November 2018. Thomas' thesis was titled "The Effect of Vitamin D Therapy on Structural Change in Knee Osteoarthritis (OA)". During his PhD, Thomas was part of the Research In Osteoarthritis Manchester (ROAM) team which focusses on exploring the potential therapeutic capability of new treatments in OA using data from clinical trials. 

During his PhD, Thomas' work focused on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) assessment which led to the development of a novel, semi-automated approach for the assessment of inflammation on MRI in knee OA. His work also involved examining the relationship between structure and symptoms in men and women with painful knee OA and, investigating the effect of vitamin D supplementation on structure using data from a clinical trial of symptomatic knee OA (UK-VIDEO study).

Whilst MRI and the assessment of treatment efficacy in knee OA remains an active interest, the current focus of his work is on identifying populations at risk of developing knee OA including those most likely to have symptom and joint progression; using data from worldwide, population-level cohorts. Furthermore, several of Thomas' projects are working towards identifying and defining new structural treatment targets for knee OA clinical trials. In addition, Thomas is keen to develop collaborations and projects in ankle OA. Thomas has extensive experience in a range of quantitative research methods including musculoskeletal imaging and clinical epidemiology, and project management. 

As part of his research career, Thomas has had the privilege of presenting work at the Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) conference and the European League against Rheumatism (EULAR) conference.  Thomas continues to collaborate with the University of Southampton, the University of Sydney and the University of Manchester on studies focused on understanding the mechanism of disease and identifying early risk factors for knee OA.  

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0499-3033