Griffin Rodgers

BIOGRAPHY

CURRENT POSITION:
• Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
• Chief of NIDDK's Clinical and Molecular Hematology Branch

AWARDS:
• Arthur S Flemming Award, an honor reserved for outstanding Federal employees with fewer than 15 years of service
• Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award of the American College of Physicians
• Meritorious Achievement Award of the National Medical Association
• Mastership American College of Physicians

COMMITTEE POSITIONS:
At the NIH, Dr Rodgers has served on many committees, including:
• Board of Tutors for the Clinical Research Training Program
• Board of Governors of NIH's Clinical Center
• Institutional Review Board (IRB) for NIDDK
• National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, which protects the rights and welfare of people who are research subjects

MEMBERSHIPS:
He is a member of the American Society of Hematology, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and the Association of American Physicians, among others. He is the chair of the Hematology Subspecialty Board and is a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine Board of Directors.

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Dr Rodgers and his collaborators had shown that hydroxyurea boosts the patients' levels of fetal and total hemoglobin thus alleviating their anemia, pain, and other debilitating symptoms. Now, he and his colleagues are doing studies to learn at what minimal dose erythropoietin, a costly medicine, can still be effective with hydroxyurea. With collaborators in the United States, China, Thailand, Israel, Greece, and Italy, Dr Rodgers is evaluating hydroxyurea's potential in thalassemia treatment. In 1993, Rodgers led a joint study by NIDDK, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and the Johns Hopkins Medical School that showed how recombinant erythropoietin and an iron supplement could be used to boost hydroxyurea's effectiveness in sickle cell patients. In addition to this, he also works on the molecular basis of lineage-specific hematopietic differentiation.

HOME PAGE
http://www2.niddk.nih.gov/AboutNIDDK/Director/