Griffin P. Rodgers, MD, MACP

Dr. Griffin Rodgers, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, is an accomplished clinician, researcher, and mentor, and is a role model.

His research interests include genetic diseases: sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, red cell enzymopathies; clinical evaluation of disease severity; treatment, including pharmacological alteration of gene expression and stem cell transplantation; molecular genetics of human hemoglobins; gene expression and differentiation in erythroid cells in normal and perturbed hematopoietic states; pharmacological alteration of gene expression; molecular genetics of myleodysplastic and myleoproliferative syndromes; hematopoiesis; role of inducible and stochastic factors; hematopoietic stem cell plasticity; identification of early markers of lineage-specific differentiation; the development of novel gene therapy strategies and their targeted application in cord blood hematopoietic stem cells.

As a research investigator, Dr. Rodgers is widely recognized for his contributions to the development of hydroxyurea, the first effective—and now FDA approved—therapy for sickle cell anemia.

Representative Publications:

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation for sickle cell disease

HbA2 : biology, clinical relevance and a possible target for ameliorating sickle cell disease

Nonmyeloablative HLA-matched sibling allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for severe sickle cell phenotype

Fetal haemoglobin response to hydroxycarbamide treatment and sar1a promoter polymorphisms in sickle cell anaemia

Hemolytic anemia-associated pulmonary hypertension in sickle cell disease