Univ. Prof. Dr. med. Felix Eckstein
Institute of Anatomy
Paracelsus Medical University
Haus D, Strubergasse 21
A 5020 Salzburg, Austria

Chair of the Department of Imaging & Functional Musculoskeletal Research, Institute of Anatomy & Cell Biology at Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria
CEO and CMO at Chondrometrics– medical data processing GmbH, Freilassing, Germany

Felix Eckstein was born in Freiburg, Germany. He studied Medicine in Freiburg and Heidelberg and graduated in 1991. In 1987 he received a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service to study Medicine at Bristol University (U.K.), and in 1988 a scholarship from the Dr. Carl Duisberg Stiftung to work on his doctoral thesis at the University of Innsbruck (Austria).

In 1991, Felix Eckstein joined the research group led by Prof. Reinhard Putz at the Institute of Anatomy at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU), Munich, Germany. From 1993 to 1995, he joined the Institute of Diagnostic Imaging at LMU, where he started his work on quantitative MRI of articular tissue. He completed his „Habilitation“ at the Institute of Anatomy in 1997.

In 2003, he founded Chondrometrics GmbH, now a leading provider of medial image analysis services to researchers in academia and in the pharmaceutical industry.

In 2004, Felix Eckstein became Professor of Anatomy and Director of the Institute of Anatomy at Paracelsus Medical University in Salzburg. His research focuses on the integration of imaging methods for understanding the morphology, function and pathophysiology of musculoskeletal tissues, in particular osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. He has authored more than 300 original and 40 review articles.

Felix Eckstein was president of the German Society of Biomechanics (DGfB) from 2002 to 2003, Secretary General of the Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) from 2005 to 2006, and board member of OARSI from 2005 through 2009.

He organized the 1st International Workshop on Osteoarthritis Imaging (IWOAI) in Ainring in 2007, the 5th IWOAI in Salzburg in June 2011, and the 14th IWOAI in Salzburg in September 2020.

In September 2010, Felix Eckstein received the “Clinical Research Award” from OARSI, and in 2015 a research award for his group from the Germany Adacemy of Rheumatic Sciences.  In 2013 he became member of the German National Academy of Science (Leopoldina).

In 2019 Felix Eckstein assumed a Research Professorship at Paracelsus Medical University and is now head of the Department of Imaging & Functional Musculoskeletal Research at the Institute of Anatomy & Cell Biology. Since 2019 his group is part of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Arthritis and Rehabilitation (LBIAR).