Professor Christopher Little, BSc, BVMS, PhD, is Director of the Raymond Purves Bone and Joint Research Lab at the Kolling Institute, University of Sydney, Australia. Chris is a qualified veterinarian with specialist surgery training and certification. He was awarded a PhD from the University of Sydney in 1996 and has been in full time medical research since then, completing post-doctoral Fellowships at the University of Cardiff University in the UK and University of Melbourne, before being recruited to his current role in 2004.

Chris’s research focuses on defining the biochemical, cellular and molecular mechanisms of musculoskeletal (MSK) disease (in particular osteoarthritis, tendinopathy, and intervertebral disc degeneration) and how structural pathology relates to the key clinical symptoms of pain and disability. He is recognized for his expertise in pre-clinical animal models of MSK diseases, and their use in translating new knowledge of disease mechanisms into effective therapies.

His research has been funded through grants from various agencies/sectors (NHMRC, ARC, CRC, philanthropy, industry), has resulted in >200 publications, and facilitated mentoring of 24 PhDs and numerous post-doctoral Fellows. Chris is Deputy Editor of Osteoarthritis and Cartilage and sits on a number of Editorial Boards for other leading international MSK journals. He has been on the Board of Directors for a number of national and international research societies and was recently elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW, an ICORS Fellow of International Orthopaedic Research and a US Orthopaedic Research Society Fellow.