Professor John Wark

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Department of Medicine (RMH/WH)
4th Floor, Clinical Sciences Building
Royal Melbourne Hospital
Royal Parade
Parkville, Vic. 3050 AUSTRALIA

Tel: +61 3 8344 5201 / Fax: +61 3 9318 1157
Email: jdwark@unimelb.edu.au or PA Wendy Cadd: wcadd@unimelb.edu.au

The current research activities of Professor Wark, MB BS Melb. PhD Melb. FRACP, include understanding the effects of cigarette smoking and anti-epileptic drugs on fracture risk, factors influencing hip biomechanics through life, spinal factors affecting vertebral fracture risk, the role of vertebroplasty in vertebral fracture management. His laboratory also studies the determinants of falls risk, bone health in Asian Australians and the treatment of osteoporosis.

Much of Professor Wark's research is underpinned by a mixed longitudinal cohort study in female twins. He also conducts population-based studies and a range of intervention trials.

Main research interests include:

• Bone health and osteoporosis
• Genetic and environmental determinants of health
• Vitamin D in health and disease

Most Relevant Publications

1. Morris FL, Naughton GA, Gibbs JL, Carlson JS & Wark JD (1997). Prospective ten-month exercise intervention in pre-menarcheal girls: positive effects on bone and lean mass. J Bone Min Res, 12:1453–62.
2. Hopper JL, Green R, Nowson C, Young D, Larkins RG & Wark JD (1998). Genetic, common environment, and individual specific components of variance for bone mineral density in 10–26 year-old females: a twin study. Am J Epidemiology, 147:17–29.
3. Guthrie JR, Ebeling PR, Hopper JL, Barrett-Connor E, Dennerstein L, Dudley EC, Burger HG & Wark JD (1998). A prospective study of bone loss in menopausal Australian-born women. Osteoporosis Int, 8:282–90.
4. Bonjour J-P, Couper M, Dutta S, Fracchia G, Gundert-Remy U, Idanpaan-Heikkila J, Ikeda M, Kalache A, Kanis JA, Khaltaev N, Lutwak L, Meirik O, Meunier P, Nakamura T & Wark JD (1998). Guidelines for preclinical evaluation and clinical trials in osteoporosis. WHO, Geneva.
5. Young D, Hopper JL, Macinnins RJ, Nowson CA, Hoang NH & Wark JD (2001). Changes in body composition as determinants of longitudinal changes in bone mineral measures in 8–26 year old female twins. Osteoporosis International, 12(6):506–15.
6. Margerison C, Paton LM, Nowson C, Hossain SF, Kaymakci B & Wark JD (2002). Hormone replacement therapy and bone mineral density: A co-twin approach. Menopause, 9(6):436–42.
7. Wark JD (2003). Influence of nutrition on bone health: The twin model approach, in Nutritional Aspects of Bone Health. New S, Bonjour JP (ed.), Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge.
8. Paton LM, Alexander JL, Nowson C, Margerison C, Frame MG, Kaymakci B & Wark JD (2003). Pregnancy and lactation have no long-term deleterious effect on measures of bone mineral in healthy women: a twin study. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, March, 77(3):707–14.
9. Flicker L, Mead K, MacInnis R, Nowson C, Scherer S, Stein MS, Thomas J, Hopper J & Wark JD (2003). Serum vitamin D and falls in older women in residential care in Australia. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, November, 51(11):1533–8.
10. MacInnis RJ, Cassar C, Nowson CA, Paton L, Flicker L, Hopper JL, Larkins RG & Wark JD (2003). Determinants of bone density in 30 to 65 year old women: a twin study. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 18(9):1650–6.

Current Grants

Project/Grant Title: Efficacy and safety of vertebroplasty for the treatment of painful osteoporotic spinal compression fractures
Chief Investigators: R Buchbinder, D Connell, R Osborne, JD Wark, P Ebeling & S Graves
Granting Body: NHMRC Project Grant
Amount of Grant: $568,000
Year(s) of Grant: 2004-07

Project/Grant title: Smoking cessation and bone health: observational and intervention studies in twins and a Quitline population
Chief Investigator(s): JD Wark, CJ Segan, RH Osborne, C Nowson, P Ebeling
Granting Body: NHMRC Project Grant
Amount of Grant: $634,613
Year(s) of Grant: 2004–06