The IOF Olof Johnell Science Award, named in honour of the late Professor Olof Johnell, has been awarded annually during the WCO-IOF-ESCEO Congress since 2013. It honours individuals who have contributed to the field of osteoporosis in a scientific or policy implementation area, worldwide.

Professor Johnell achieved a wide breadth of knowledge in metabolic bone disease through a career focusing on basic research in the 1970s, clinical trials in the 1980s, epidemiology and health technology assessment in the 1990s, and health economics and guideline development in the later years of his life. He was sought out as a colleague or consultant worldwide and has contributed significantly to the scientific policies of the European Union, the International Osteoporosis Foundation, and the World Health Organization.

Winners of the Olof Johnell Science Award

2025: Prof. Maria Luisa Brandi, Full Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases at the University of Florence, Florence, Italy.

2024: Prof. Etienne Cavalier, Professor of Clinical Chemistry at the University of Liège and Head of the Department of Clinical Chemistry of the University Hospital of Liège (CHU de Liège).

2023: Prof. Nicholas Harvey, Director and Professor of Rheumatology and Clinical Epidemiology at the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre, University of Southampton, UK.

2022: Prof. Elaine Dennison, Professor of Musculoskeletal Epidemiology and Honorary Consultant in Rheumatology at the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre, University of Southampton, UK.

2021: Prof. Manju Chandran MD, FACP, FACE, FAMS, CCD, Senior Consultant and Director Osteoporosis and Bone Metabolism Unit, Department of Endocrinology, Singapore General Hospital, DUKE-NUS Graduate Medical School, Chair of the Asia Pacific Consortium on Osteoporosis (APCO), Member of the IOF Board.

2020: Dr. Michael R. McClung, MD, FACP, FACE, Founding Director of the Oregon Osteoporosis Center in Portland, and an internationally recognized clinician, researcher, and educator in osteoporosis and metabolic bone diseases.

2019: Prof. John A. Kanis, Emeritus Professor in Human Metabolism, and Director of the Centre for Metabolic Bone Diseases (formerly WHO Collaborating Centre), University of Sheffield, UK and Professorial Fellow at the Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia.

2018: Prof. Cyrus Cooper, Professor of Rheumatology and Director of the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit; Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton; and Professor of Epidemiology at the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford.

2017: Prof. Olivier Bruyère, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology in the Department of Public Health, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Professor of Geriatrics Rehabilitation in the Department of Motricity Sciences, and Head, Support Unit, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, at the University of Liège, Belgium.

2016: Prof. Serge Ferrari, Associate Professor of Medicine and Senior Consultant in Metabolic bone diseases at the Geneva University Hospital.

2015: Prof. Roger Fielding, Director and Senior Scientist of the Nutrition, Exercise Physiology, and Sarcopenia (NEPS) Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.

2014: Prof. Jonathan D. Adachi M.D, Professor and Alliance for Better Bone Health Chair in Rheumatology at the Department of Medicine of McMaster University.

2013: Prof. Harry Genant, Professor Emeritus of the University of California San Francisco.