Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion
Joshua Baker, MD, MSCE

CHERP COIN Investigator
Assistant Professor, Rheumatology & Epidemiology University of Pennsylvania & Philadelphia VA Medical Center
Profile
Dr. Baker's research in rheumatoid arthritis focuses on the accurate assessment of disease activity, and the interaction between arthritis and obesity and skeletal muscle loss. He is also interested in developing tools and techniques that may lead to more comprehensive risk assessment in individuals with inflammatory arthritis. Current projects include the evaluation of predictive biomarkers in patients with RA in the VA Rheumatoid Arthritis registry, evaluation of skeletal muscle health in patients with osteoarthritis, and two trials to evaluate the benefit of incentivized exercise in patients with osteoarthritis and inflammatory arthritis. Dr. Baker also oversees several clinical trials in gout aimed at improving treatment of this condition among veterans. He has also studied methods to quantify body composition abnormalities in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the Healthy Aging and Body Composition Study.
Dr. Baker serves as Philadelphia Site Investigator for VA HSR&D study: SToRytelling to Improve DiseasE Outcomes in GOut: The STRIDE-GO Study.
Published Research
Sex Differences in the Achievement of Remission and Low Disease Activity in Rheumatoid Arthritis. Arthritis care & research (2020)Changes in Alcohol Use and Associations With Disease Activity, Health Status, and Mortality in Rheumatoid Arthritis. Arthritis care & research (2020)
Risk of Biologics and Glucocorticoids in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis Undergoing Arthroplasty. Annals of internal medicine (2019)
When Calcium Pyrophosphate Deposition Disease Masquerades as Spinal Infection. [Letter to the Editor]. Journal of clinical rheumatology : practical reports on rheumatic & musculoskeletal diseases (2019)
Research Areas
- Rheumatoid Arthritis