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Last Updated: 7/13/2006
| Eugene P Orringer, M.D.
Professor |  |
Research Interests
Eugene P. Orringer received an A.B. in Zoology from the University of Michigan in 1965 and an M.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1969. He then moved to Chapel Hill, NC where, in 1975, after training in both Internal Medicine and Hematology, he joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine. Dr. Orringer was promoted to Associate Professor in 1979 and to Professor in 1986. He served as the Program Director of UNC's NIH-funded General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) for a ten year period that began in 1989. In 1999, he was named to his present position as Executive Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development in the UNC School of Medicine.
Dr. Orringer's research activities have focused primarily on the membrane transport properties of the normal human erythrocyte and on its disordered physiology in a variety of pathological states, especially sickle cell disease. Dr. Orringer received a Research Career Development Award from the NHLBI in 1982, and he has consistently held peer-reviewed grant support from the NIH for the past 24 years. Upon assuming the Directorship of UNC's GCRC, Dr. Orringer began to focus more and more of his efforts on clinical and translational research. He was a national leader in the NIH-funded clinical trials that demonstrated the ability of hydroxyurea to reduce the frequency and severity of the episodes of painful vaso-occlusion and acute chest syndrome in patients with sickle cell anemia. He is currently working on the development of novel pharmacological agents that also appear to be quite promising in this clinical setting. It is of note that Dr. Orringer currently serves as the PI on NIH grant awards to UNC totaling almost $11 million for this fiscal year, making him the leader among UNC's faculty. Finally, he is among the top 2.5% of all NIH awardees in terms of NIH grant dollars received during the 25 year period between 1979 and 2004.
In addition to his own research activities, Dr. Orringer has been consistently involved in the training of young investigators. He has for years been a participant in numerous NIH-funded pre- and post-doctoral training programs. In 1995, Dr. Orringer assumed the Directorship of the UNC MD-PhD Program which, under his leadership, has grown from 12 to 63 students. Two years after taking on this new role, Dr. Orringer and his team wrote a successful Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) grant, an award that has enabled the enrollment of the UNC MD-PhD Program to grow to its current level. This MSTP grant was recently re-funded with a doubling of the number of slots over the next 5 years.
Dr. Orringer is also the Principal Investigator on numerous other grants and contracts from the NIH. One notable example is a K12 award supported primarily by the Office of Research in Women's Health (ORWH) that is entitled: Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (or BIRCWH). UNC is in the 6th year of this award that has provided support to over 20 junior faculty members, all of whom are committed to research careers in the area of "Women's Health." He is the PI on a second K12 award from the NIH, this one entitled: Mentored Clinical Research Scholar Program Award. UNC is in the 4th year of this institutional career development program that supports at any one time a total of eight physicians and dentists who are seeking to develop the skills needed to become independent, patient-oriented clinical investigators. Dr. Orringer recently received a third K12 training award, this one an NIH Roadmap grant that is entitled: A Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Career Development Award. This third K12 award was funded in September 2005, and UNC has just now recruited its initial cohort of eight scholars who will begin their training in July 2006.
In addition to these training programs, Dr. Orringer and Dr. Marilyn Telen, his counterpart from Duke University, together direct the combined Duke-UNC Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center. This five year center grant from National Heart Lung & Blood Institute (NHLBI) employs the U54 mechanism to support a variety of basic and clinical research projects at our two institutions. Drs. Telen and Orringer also hold two additional sickle cell-related R01 grants from the NIH. These are entitled: Outcome Modifying Genes in Sickle Cell Disease and Pulmonary Complications of Sickle Cell Disease. Both of these large, multi-institutional R01 awards are currently ongoing.
Dr. Orringer has served as a member (and Chairperson) of the NIH Sickle Cell Disease Advisory Committee, as a member of the NIH GCRC Study Section, and as the President of the National GCRC Program Directors' Association. He currently serves on the North Carolina Governor's Council on Sickle Cell Disease, chairing the Medical Care & Research Committee. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Patient Oriented Research (APOR), and he is a member of the Steering Committee and also the Treasurer of the Clinical Research Forum. He currently serves on two senior level NIH Committees: the Advisory Committee for the Sickle Cell Disease Branch of the NHLBI and the Advisory Committee for the Office of Research on Women's Health.
Dr. Orringer is an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Hematology, and he is a member of the Editorial Boards of both the American Journal of Medicine and the American Journal of Medical Sciences.
Recent Accomplishments and Honors
In recognition of his life-long achievements, Dr. Orringer was recently named the 2006 recipient of the Philip Hench Distinguished Alumnus Award by the University of Pittsburgh. This award is given annually to a graduate of the School of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.
Publications
Joneckis CC, Shock DD, Cunningham ML, Orringer EP, Wayner EA, and Parise LV. Glycoprotein IV-Independent Adhesion of Sickle Red Blood Cells to Immobilized Thrombospondin Under Flow Conditions Blood. 87: 4862-4871, 1996.
Charache S, Barton FB, Moore RD, Terrin ML, Steinberg MH, Dover GJ, Ballas SK, McMahon RP, Castro O, Orringer EP, and the Investigators of the Multicenter Study of Hydroxyurea in Sickle Cell Anemia. Hydroxyurea and Sickle Cell Anemia: Clinical Utility of a Myelosuppressive Agent. Medicine 75: 300-326, 1996.
Haberkern CM, Neumayr L, Orringer EP, Earles AN, Robertson S, Black D, Abboud M, Idowu O, Vichinsky EP, and the Preoperative Transfusion in Sickle Cell Disease Study Group. Cholecystectomy in Sickle Cell Anemia Patients: Perioperative Outcome of 364 Cases from the National Preoperative Transfusion Study. Blood 89: 1533-1542, 1997.
Hackney AC, Heizer W, Hoffman E, Jones S, Strayhorn D, Hughes G, and Orringer EP. Effect of Hydroxyurea on the Body Weight, Body Composition and Exercise Performance of Sickle Cell Anemia Patients. Clinical Science 92: 481-486, 1997.
Gonzalez P, Hackney, AC, Jones S, Strayhorn D, Hoffman E, Hughes G, Jacobs EE, Orringer EP. Phase I/II Study of Polymerized Bovine Hemoglobin in Adult Patients with Sickle Cell Disease Not in Crisis at the Time of Study. J Inv Med 45: 258-264, 1997.
Lee, S.P., Cunningham, M.L., Hines, P.C., Joneckis, C.C., Orringer, E.P and Parise, L.V. Sickle cell adhesion to laminin: Potential role for a5 G-domain. Blood 92:2951-2958, 1998.
Glover RE, Ivy ED, Orringer EP, Maeda H, and Mason RP. Detection of Nitrosyl Hemoglobin in the Treatment of Sickle Cell Anemia with Hydroxyurea. Molecular Pharmacology 55:1006-1010, 1999.
Vichinsky EP, Neumayr LD, Earles AN, William R, Lennette ET, Dean D, Nickerson B, Orringer EP, et al. Causes and Outcomes of the Acute Chest Syndrome in Sickle Cell Disease. NEJM 342:1855-1865, 2000
Ataga KI and Orringer EP. Bone Marrow Necrosis in Sickle Cell Disease. Am J Med Sci 320: 342-347, 2000.
Brittain JE, Minar KJ, Orringer, EP and Parise, LV. Integrin-Associated Protein is an Adhesion receptor on Sickle Red Blood cells for Immobilized Thrombospondin. Blood 97, 2159-2164, 2001.
Brittain, J.E., Milnar, K.J., Anderson, C. S. Orringer, E.P., Parise, L.V.: Activation of Sickle RBC Adhesion via Integrin-Associated Protein (IAP/CD47)-Induced Signal Transduction. J Clin Invest 107:1555-1562, 2001
Orringer EP, Casella JF, Ataga KA, et al. Purified poloxamer 188 for the treatment of acute vaso-occlusive crisis of sickle cell disease: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. JAMA 286: 2099-2106, 2001.
Hines PC, Zen Q, Burney SN, Shea D, Ataga KI, Orringer EP, Telen MJ, and Parise LV. Novel Epinephrine and Cyclic AMP-Mediated Activation of BCAM/Lu-Dependent Sickle (SS) RBC Adhesion. Blood. 101: 3281-3287, 2003.
Steinberg MD, Barton F, Castro O, Pegelow C, Ballas SK, Orringer EP, et al. Effect of Hydroxyurea on Mortality and Morbidity in Sickle Cell Anemia: Risks and Benefits Up to 9 Years of Treatment. JAMA. 289: 1645-51, 2003.
Ataga KI and Orringer EP. Disordered Blood Coagulation in Sickle Cell Disease. Am J Med. 115: 721-728, 2003.
Gil KM, Carson JW, Porter LS, Scipio AB, Bediako SM, and Orringer EP. Daily Mood and Stress Predict Pain, Health Care Use, and Work Activity in Adults with Sickle Cell Disease. Health Psychology 23:267-274, 2004
Brittain JE, Han J, Ataga KI, Orringer EP, Parise LV. Mechanism of CD47-induced integrin activation and adhesion in sickle reticulocytes. J Biol Chem. 279:42393-2402, 2004
Ataga KI, Sood N, de Gent G, Kelly E, Henderson AG, Jones S, Strayhorn MD, Lail A, Lieff S and Orringer EP. Pulmonary Hypertension In Sickle Cell Disease: Prevalence And Associated Factors. Am J Med 117:665-669, 2004
Yan J, Ataga KI, Kaul S, Orringer EP. The Influence of Renal Function on the Pharmacokinetics of Hydroxyurea in Sickle Cell Adults Disease. J Clin Pharm 45:434-445, 2005
Byrns PJ, Orringer EP. Is the Crisis in Clinical Research Being Effectively Addressed? J Inv Med 54:10-12, 2006
E-mail: epo@med.unc.edu
Telephone: (919) 843-9485
FAX: (919) 966-8623
Address: 4064 Bondurant Hall, CB# 7000 Chapel Hill, NC
