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Chloe Orkin

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Chloe Orkin
MBE FRCP
Born
Johannesburg
South Africa
Alma mater
Known forManagement of HIV/AIDS
PartnerFlick Thorley
Scientific career
Institutions
Websitehttps://www.qmul.ac.uk/blizard/all-staff/profiles/chloe-orkin.html

Chloe Meave Orkin MBE FRCP is a British physician and Professor of HIV/AIDS medicine at Queen Mary University of London.[1] She works as a consultant at the Royal London Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust. She is an internationally renowned expert in HIV therapeutics and led the first phase III clinical trial of injectable anti-retrovirals.[2] She is immediate past chair of the British HIV Association, where she championed the Undetectable=Untransmittable (U=U) campaign[3] within the United Kingdom. She is president elect of the Medical Women's Federation. Orkin is gay[4] and was on the Top 100 Lesbian influencer lists in both the UK and in the US in 2020.[5] She considers herself a medical activist and much of her work focuses on inequalities in healthcare and in Medicine.

Early life and education

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Orkin was born in Johannesburg, South Africa.[6] She obtained her medical degree in 1995 from the University of the Witwatersrand and was the prize student in virology and microbiology.[7] She began her clinical training at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, Soweto in the 1990s. At the time, between 30 and 40% of medical inpatients were infected with HIV[8] and Orkin herself, lost close friends to AIDS.[4] She moved to the United Kingdom. In 1998, she completed her specialist training in HIV and Genitourinary Medicine at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Towards the end of her specialist training, Orkin moved to Botswana together with nurse colleague and partner Flick Thorley to establish an HIV/AIDS treatment programme in Francistown as part of the government anti-retroviral roll-out.[9] In 2006, Orkin completed a MSc in Infectious Diseases from The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Research and career

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At the age of 29, Orkin was appointed as consultant physician at Barts Health NHS Trust.[4] Her specialist interests are the development of novel antiretroviral therapies, blood-borne virus testing and health inequalities. In 2013, she led the Test Me East HIV testing campaign[10] which was supported by David Furnish, Sir Elton John and Sadie Frost and covered by CNN, Channel 4[11] and ITV news. In 2015, she spearheaded ‘Going Viral’, a week-long campaign to raise awareness of blood-borne viruses.[12] The week-long novel campaign offered HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C testing in emergency departments around the United Kingdom utilising an opt-out testing strategy. The campaign was widely covered in the media[13] and supported by several high profile celebrities, including actor Richard Wilson and DJ Tim Westwood.

Chloe Orkin presenting at annual British HIV Association Conference (2019)

She led the first ever phase III clinical trial into the use of injectable anti-retrovirals.[2] After appearing on ITV News[14] to discuss the treatment, she was trolled on social media where many misogynistic and homophobic comments were made about her appearance and sexual identity.[6][15] This experience led her to take action on gender and sexuality-based discrimination. Shortly after she stood for election and was elected Vice President of the Medical Women's Federation in 2019.[16] Orkin has also served as Chair of the British HIV Association from 2017-2019[17] and is on the Governing Council for the International AIDS Society.[18]

In 2018, Orkin and the British HIV Association announced their commitment to the Undetectable=Untransmittable (U=U) campaign.[3]

During the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, she led on safe delivery of COVID-19 treatment trials at the 5 Barts Health NHS Trust hospitals including NHS Nightingale London (the first non-hospital, non-military research delivery). Since then she has led the team that created a new clinical trial centre in a community library to deliver a large SARS CoV2 vaccine trials[19] and was appointed as its clinical director. She has also led research into poor health outcomes in ethnically diverse people[20] and on gender disparities in women's academic careers.[21] She is lead investigator for the first COVID-19 vaccine trial in pregnant women.

Selected publications

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HIV Anti-retroviral Therapy:

COVID-19 Equality Research:

Blood-borne Virus Testing in UK Emergency Department:

Awards and honours

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Orkin is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP).

Personal life

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Orkin is a lesbian.[22] She lives in London with her wife Flick Thorley, who was a highly regarded HIV specialist nurse at Chelsea and Westminster hospital and Charge Nurse at the London Lighthouse.[23] They share a home with their three dogs and two cats.

References

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  1. ^ "Chloe Orkin - Blizard Institute - Barts and The London". www.qmul.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b Orkin, Chloe; Arasteh, Keikawus; Górgolas Hernández-Mora, Miguel; Pokrovsky, Vadim; Overton, Edgar T.; Girard, Pierre-Marie; Oka, Shinichi; Walmsley, Sharon; Bettacchi, Chris; Brinson, Cynthia; Philibert, Patrick (19 March 2020). "Long-Acting Cabotegravir and Rilpivirine after Oral Induction for HIV-1 Infection". New England Journal of Medicine. 382 (12): 1124–1135. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1909512. ISSN 0028-4793. PMID 32130806.
  3. ^ a b "BHIVA encourages universal promotion of Undetectable=Untransmittable (U=U)". www.bhiva.org. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b c "Professor Chloe Orkin: Chair of the British HIV Association". Audioboom. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  5. ^ "Visible Lesbian 100". pocketmags.com. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  6. ^ a b "This Doctor Can: Fighting HIV". RCP London. 12 December 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  7. ^ "This doctor can". www.rcplondon.ac.uk. 12 December 2019. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  8. ^ Black, Andrew; Sitas, Freddy; Chibrawara, Trust; Gill, Zoe; Kubanje, Mmamapudi; Williams, Brian (2019). "HIV-attributable causes of death in the medical ward at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, South Africa". PLOS ONE. 14 (5): e0215591. Bibcode:2019PLoSO..1415591B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0215591. PMC 6502348. PMID 31059528.
  9. ^ "Botswana's Mass Antiretroviral Therapy Program". millionssaved.cgdev.org. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  10. ^ Bath, R.; O'Connell, R.; Lascar, M.; Ferrand, R.; Strachan, S.; Matin, N.; Bassnet, I.; Orkin, C. (3 May 2016). "TestMeEast: a campaign to increase HIV testing in hospitals and to reduce late diagnosis". AIDS Care. 28 (5): 608–611. doi:10.1080/09540121.2015.1120855. ISSN 0954-0121. PMID 26694913. S2CID 19323784.
  11. ^ Rigby, Jennifer (26 November 2013). "Going to hospital? How about an HIV test?". Channel 4 News. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  12. ^ Orkin, C.; Flanagan, S.; Wallis, E.; Ireland, G.; Dhairyawan, R.; Fox, J.; Nandwani, R.; O'Connell, R.; Lascar, M.; Bulman, J.; Reeves, I. (March 2016). "Incorporating HIV/hepatitis B virus/hepatitis C virus combined testing into routine blood tests in nine UK Emergency Departments: the "Going Viral" campaign". HIV Medicine. 17 (3): 222–230. doi:10.1111/hiv.12364. ISSN 1468-1293. PMID 26919291.
  13. ^ "Hepatitis C: Hunting the silent killer | Patrick Strudwick". the Guardian. 25 February 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  14. ^ Morgan, Emily (7 March 2019). "Why a monthly HIV injection is a huge medical breakthrough". ITV News. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  15. ^ Mehlmann-Wicks J. "Speaking up, listening up – scotching sexism in the NHS". The British Medical Association is the trade union and professional body for doctors in the UK. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  16. ^ "MWF Vice-President - Professor Chloe Orkin - Medical Womens Federation". www.medicalwomensfederation.org.uk. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  17. ^ "Professor Chloe Orkin - 23rd Annual Conference of BHIVA". www.bhiva.org. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  18. ^ "Governing Council". www.iasociety.org. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  19. ^ Munro, Victoria (16 November 2020). "Barts Health staff searching for volunteers to take part in coronavirus vaccine trial". East London Advertiser. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  20. ^ Lydall, Ross (20 January 2021). "Why are black and ethnic minority East End Londoners hardest hit by covid?". www.standard.co.uk. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  21. ^ Cevik, Muge; Haque, Syed Arefinul; Manne-Goehler, Jennifer; Kuppalli, Krutika; Sax, Paul E.; Majumder, Maimuna S.; Orkin, Chloe (5 January 2021). "Gender disparities in COVID-19 clinical trial leadership". Clinical Microbiology and Infection. 27 (7): 1007–1010. doi:10.1016/j.cmi.2020.12.025. ISSN 1198-743X. PMC 7785275. PMID 33418021.
  22. ^ "VISIBLE LESBIAN 100". Lesbian Visibility Week. Archived from the original on 24 April 2020. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  23. ^ Yeates, Cydney (4 February 2021). "It's A Sin: LGBT+ nurses remember anger and sadness of HIV/Aids crisis". Metro. Archived from the original on 21 May 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
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