David W. Dempster, BSc (Hons), PhD, FRMS is Professor Emeritus of Clinical Pathology and Cell Biology at Columbia University in New York and former Director of the Regional Bone Center of Helen Hayes Hospital, New York State Department of Health, West Haverstraw, New York. He received a First-Class Honors degree and a PhD from the University of Glasgow in Scotland and completed postdoctoral studies in Switzerland and France.

Dr. Dempster is a Past President of the International Society of Bone Morphometry and has served on the Scientific Advisory Council of the National Osteoporosis Foundation. He is a Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society. Dr. Dempster’s iconic micrographs of osteoporotic bone have been widely reproduced in the scientific and popular press, including being displayed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

Dr. Dempster is the founding associate Editor of Osteoporosis International and Archives in Osteoporosis and served in that role for 35 years. He has also served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Densitometry, Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, Bone, and Endocrinology. His research studies have been continuously supported by the National Institutes of Health for 40 years. Dr. Dempster has published over 300 research papers on the pathophysiology and treatment of metabolic bone disease.

Dr. Dempster has served as principal investigator or advisor on the clinical trials that led to the development of most of the current approved medicines for prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. He is the Editor in Chief of the Vth edition of the highly respected textbook Marcus and Feldman’s Osteoporosis (affectionately known as “Big Red”). In 2019, Dr. Dempster was elected as a Fellow of the ASBMR in recognition of his contributions to the field of bone metabolism. In 2025, Dr. Dempster was recognized by the Lawrence G. Raisz Memorial Lecture Award from the Bone Health and Osteoporosis Foundation.