Our Physicians
 
 

Dr. John A. Hipp

Dr. Hipp, director of the Spine Research Laboratory at BCM, focuses his research on quantitative diagnostic imaging and spinal biomechanics. More

 
 

Procedures


We offer expert care for adult and pediatric patients.

 
 

The Hand and Upper Extremity Institute

The Baylor Institute for Hand and Upper Extremity Disorders is the South's leading center for the diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of hand and upper extremity disorders.

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BCM Orthopedic Surgery

Our Physicians

Elizabeth A. Olmsted-Davis, PhD

  • Assistant Professor
  • Department of Pediatrics
  • Section of Hematology-Oncology
  • Baylor College of Medicine

Education

  • BS, Allegheny College, Meadeville, PA
  • PhD, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY

Research Interests

Dr. Olmsted-Davis's research program is focused on improving bone formation and bone fracture repair to help orthopedic patients. The first area is to develop a safe efficacious system that will deliver a protein known to invoke bone formation. This system is being developed to enhance bone repair during fractures, which will eliminate many problems faced by orthopedic surgeons such as nonunion of the broken bone and to treat fractures in elderly population, which often are difficult to immobilize without surgical intervention. Recently this work, through a collaboration with a major pharmaceutical company, has also been directed towards fixation of the spine, a common treatment for a number of different spine problems.

The second area of interest is in understanding the signal transduction pathways that lead a stem cell into becoming an osteoblast or cell that produces bone. Dr. Elizabeth Olmsted-Davis discovered an enzyme required for cells to become osteoblasts and has been awarded a grant from NIAMs to further identify the protein's function. The lab is utilizing adenovirus vectors to identify the exact functions and cellular pathways of this enzyme. The end goal of this project would be to understand the events that lead to cells becoming osteoblasts and making bone.

The last area of interest is in adult stem cell research. Dr. Elizabeth Olmsted-Davis, along with Dr. Davis, has identified a common precursor, which is both a hematopioietic stem cell and osteoblast stem cell. Together, they are currently evaluating both the signals that lead to stem cell recruitment for bone formation, and the cellular mechanisms that lead to new bone. This bone formation model is also being used as a system to test various agents that may block bone formation, in the hopes of developing a treatment for various genetic and injury induced diseases that result in unwanted bone formation in muscle and other tissues.

Dr. Elizabeth Olmsted-Davis has also been involved with establishing a Vector Development Llaboratory, a non-profit core facility at Baylor College of Medicine, which provides gene therapy vectors for use as gene delivery systems for the clinic, as well as basic research tools for understanding gene/protein function.

Contact Information

Make an
Appointment

Call 713.986.6016 or 800.545.ORTH (6784)

Preparing for your visit

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Locations

Main Location
Baylor Clinic - Map
Other Location
Sugar Land - Map
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