Physician Investigator (Cl) Rheumatology Unit, Mass General Research Institute

Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School

Physician Rheumatology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital

MD 1986

anti-hypertensives; arthritis rheumatoid; articular tissue; calcium channel blockers; coffee; extra-articular tissue; gene-environment interactions; genetics of gout; gout; hyperuricemia; losartan; methotrexate; nutrition surveys; rheumatic disease; uric acid; uric acid crystal deposits; vitamin c

Dr. Choi has been a leading physician investigator with primary focus on gout and other inflammatory arthritic conditions throughout his academic career.

His research has been funded by the NIH, Rheumatology Research Foundation, and industry, resulting in >200 publications (including those published in NEJM, JAMA, Lancet, Nat Genet, Ann Int Med, BMJ, Ann Rheum Dis, A&R). His research findings have been referenced by many subsequent publications by others, including the recent guidelines from the European League Against Rheumatism and the American College of Rheumatology (2012).

As follows, Dr. Choi's novel discoveries have provided new avenues for simple, safe, and cost-effective prevention strategies for hyperuricemia and gout, including the: 1) protective impact of dairy products; 2) hazardous impacts of sugar-sweetened soda and fructose; 3) protective impact of vitamin C; 4) protective impact of coffee; 5) protective impacts of losartan and calcium channel blockers; and 6) hazardous impacts of other classes of anti-hypertensives.

Dr. Choi's research has extended to the genetics of gout and gene-environment interactions, which has led to several international collaborations and key discoveries in the field (Nat Genet 2013 and Nature 2014).

He has also led a multidisciplinary team for several key investigations, which have demonstrated the remarkable potential of Dual Energy Computed Tomography as an innovative tool for visualizing uric acid crystal deposits in articular and extra-articular tissue.

Beyond gout research, Dr. Choi has applied innovative methodologic approaches to various rheumatic disease contexts and carried out several groundbreaking studies ,including a state-of-the-art causal analysis on the survival benefit of methotrexate (Lancet 2004).