Alicia Bertone

Bertone studied the response of the joint after a repetitive injury and the rest period along with the physiological processes involved in the repairing of the damage. She highlighted the changes and complex interactions within the joint during the inflammatory process, and the available therapeutic modalities. She conducted study to evaluate various synovial fluid cytokines and eicosanoids for the diagnosis of joint disease and categories of joint disease. She found interleukin‐6 to be an efficient screening test for the presence of joint disease when lameness is difficult to identify. Bertone conducted randomized controlled clinical trials to compare efficacy of firocoxib and phenylbutazone paste formulations in horses with osteoarthritis, and found comparable efficacies of both drugs. She published a paper in early 2010s regarding the reduction in interleukin-1β (IL-1β) signaling by RNA interference-based transcript reduction and receptor blockade method, and the quantification of changes incurred on transcript expression of additional mediators. She provided evidence for the in vivo role of IL-1β in spontaneous osteoarthritis.

Bertone has also held several administrative appointments. From 2007 till 2013, she directed industry research at OSU Sports Medicine Center, and was appointed as Chair of the Post-professional Education Committee in 2011. Bertone was elected to the President's & Provost's Leadership Institute in 2017. She also served as an Orthopedic Surgeon at Galbreath Equine Center from 1990 till 2018.

In late 2000s, Bertone published a paper regarding a study on Standardbred racehorses having moderate to severe midbody suspensory ligament desmitis (MSD). She found positive results regarding treatment by intralesional injection of a single dose of platelet-rich plasma, followed by gradual increase in exercise.

Following her doctoral studies, Bertone was an Assistant Professor and Director of the Equine Research Laboratory at Louisiana State University as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Sciences before joining Ohio State University in 1989. She reached full Professor in 1997 and was appointed to the Trueman Family Endowed Chair for two consecutive terms in translation and interdisciplinary research. Bertone has also been appointed as an adjunct professor within the University's Department of Orthopedics in the College of Medicine for over 25 years.

Bertone started her initial education in the Fine Arts at the School of American Ballet in New York and later transitioned to the sciences. She studied at Cornell University and received her B.S. degree in Life Sciences with Honors and her D.V.M degree in 1977 and 1982, respectively. She was then enrolled at Colorado State University where she completed her M.S. degree in Pathology in 1986, and her Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Sciences the following year. In 2001, Bertone completed an NIH Fellowship at Harvard in Gene Therapy from the Center for Molecular Orthopaedics.