About Hyon Choi, MD

Dr. Hyon Choi received his rheumatology fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and his master's and doctorate degrees in epidemiology from Harvard University. Dr. Choi has been a leading clinical rheumatologist and investigator with a primary focus on gout, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis throughout his academic career, as reflected by his funding (National Institutes of Health [NIH] and industry), publications (over 200, including >60 gout-related peer-reviewed papers including those published in NEJM, JAMA, Lancet, Nat Genet, Ann Int Med, BMJ, Arch Int Med, Am J Med, Ann Rheum Dis, A&R), and reviewer activities for top journals and the NIH. The significance of Dr. Choi?s contributions has been widely accepted by the field, and his findings have been referenced by many articles as well as by the recent guidelines from the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) and the American College of Rheumatology (ACR, 2012).  His clinical and epidemiologic research has provided state-of-the-art evidence to inform the gout field, which is needed to move its guidelines from expert-consensus to an evidence-based approach.

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Locations

Mass General Rheumatology
55 Fruit St.
Yawkey Center for Outpatient Care
Suite 4B
Boston, MA 02114
Phone: 617-726-7938

Medical Education

  • MD, Yonsei University College of Medicine
  • Residency, MetroWest Medical Center
  • Fellowship, Barnes Jewish Hospital
  • Fellowship, Massachusetts General Hospital

Accepted Insurance Plans

Note: This provider may accept more insurance plans than shown; please call the practice to find out if your plan is accepted.


Research

Dr. Choi has been a leading physician investigator with primary focus on gout and other inflammatory arthritic conditions throughout his academic career. His research has been funded by the NIH, Rheumatology Research Foundation, and industry, resulting in >200 publications (including those published in NEJM, JAMA, Lancet, Nat Genet, Ann Int Med, BMJ, Ann Rheum Dis, A&R). His research findings have been referenced by many subsequent publications by others, including the recent guidelines from the European League Against Rheumatism and the American College of Rheumatology (2012). As follows, Dr. Choi's novel discoveries have provided new avenues for simple, safe, and cost-effective prevention strategies for hyperuricemia and gout, including the: 1) protective impact of dairy products; 2) hazardous impacts of sugar-sweetened soda and fructose; 3) protective impact of vitamin C; 4) protective impact of coffee; 5) protective impacts of losartan and calcium channel blockers; and 6) hazardous impacts of other classes of anti-hypertensives.  Dr. Choi's research has extended to the genetics of gout and gene-environment interactions, which has led to several international collaborations and key discoveries in the field (Nat Genet 2013 and Nature2014). He has also led a multidisciplinary team for several key investigations, which have demonstrated the remarkable potential of Dual Energy Computed Tomography as an innovative tool for visualizing uric acid crystal deposits in articular and extra-articular tissue. Beyond gout research, Dr. Choi has applied innovative methodologic approaches to various rheumatic disease contexts and carried out several groundbreaking studies ,including a state-of-the-art causal analysis on the survival benefit of methotrexate (Lancet 2004).

Publications

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