13/11/2026
A Western Trust doctor has gained worldwide recognition about bone health.
Professor David Armstrong, Rheumatologist and Bone Disease Specialist, has been co-hosting an educational podcast about bone health and research for five years with Professor Richie Abel from Imperial College, London. The series will soon release its 50th episode and has reached over 37,000 listeners worldwide, including doctors, nurses, radiographers, scientists and patients.
Speaking about the podcast, Professor Armstrong said,
“We started the project just over five years ago as there was a gap in the market for an educational podcast for patients and clinicians with an interest in osteoporosis and rarer bone problems, which was focussed not on trying to sell some product or theory, but on discussing the latest research, drugs and guidelines in a balanced way, and answering questions that patients and their GPs often ask. I suppose we hoped we might reach a few hundred people around the UK – but we now have listeners in 88 countries from Peru to Zimbabwe, Hawaii to the Gulf, and three years ago we were invited to be the official podcast of the European Calcified Tissue Society Congress. They asked us back each year since, so we must have been doing something right!
“In 2026 we were invited to be the official podcast of the American Bone Mineral Research society conference in Boston, which was a huge compliment as European professionals, and we are back with enough material for at least another five or six episodes of cutting edge research, hopefully explained for patients to understand. It was amazing to meet scientists and doctors from all over the world who told us they had listened to our series for years, and hear how patients had been helped by listening to the shows.
Professor Armstrong continued:
“We have received a number of awards, including the Patient and Public Engagement award from the Bone Research Society, but my biggest reward personally is when a patient turns up at my clinic and says they have already been listening to me online to find out more about their bones, or a local GP tells me they listen while walking the dog or running at the gym, as part of their Continued Professional Development. It’s a free service, and hopefully puts the Western Trust and Ulster University on the international map for bone disease!”