Professor Christopher Little is director of the Raymond Purves Bone and Joint Research Labs at the Kolling Institute, University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine and Health at Royal North Shore Hospital, Australia. Chris is a qualified veterinarian with specialist surgery training and ACVS certification. He was awarded a PhD degree from the University of Sydney in 1996 for his studies of cartilage degradation in osteoarthritis (OA). Following a 5-year postdoctoral position at Cardiff University (UK), he was awarded an Arthritis Foundation of Australia Fellowship at the University of Melbourne. In 2004 he was recruited to his current position in the University of Sydney. Chris’s research interests focus on defining the biochemical, cellular and molecular mechanisms of joint pathology in OA, tendon injury and repair, and spinal intervertebral disc degeneration, and how this relates to pain and dysability. He is recognized internationally for his expertise in the development and use of pre-clinical models of musculoskeletal diseases. Chris’s research is based on the belief that it is only though a better understanding of the cell and molecular mechanisms that drive the initiation and progression of these diseases that new disease and symptom modifying therapies can be developed.