Chloe Orkin

Chloe Meave Orkin is a British physician and Professor of HIV/AIDS medicine at Queen Mary University of London. She works as a consultant at the Royal London Hospital. Her research considers antiretroviral therapy for the management of HIV/AIDS, and she was the first to lead a phase III clinical trial into the use of injectable anti-retrovirals. She has served as Chair of the British HIV Association, which championed the Undetectable=Untransmittable (U=U) campaign in the United Kingdom.

Chloe Orkin
Born
Johannesburg
Alma materUniversity of the Witwatersrand
Known forManagement of HIV/AIDS
Scientific career
InstitutionsChelsea and Westminster Hospital
Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry

Early life and education

Orkin was born in Johannesburg.[1] She joined the University of the Witwatersrand as a medical student.[2] She trained as a physician in the largest hospital in Soweto in the 1990s.[3] At the time, between 30 and 40% of hospital inpatients were infected with HIV,[4] and Orkin herself lost 10 colleagues to AIDS. She became increasingly interested in virology and immunology.[1] She graduated from medical school in 1995 before moving to the United Kingdom.[5] She completed her specialist training in HIV/AIDS and Genitourinary Medicine at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.[5] She was ten years younger than the other specialist registrars.[1] Towards the end of her specialist training, Orkin moved to Botswana to establish an HIV/AIDS treatment programme.

Research and career

In the mid 2000s Orkin joined Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry as a consultant physician.[1] Her work considers the development of antiretroviral therapies and blood-bourne virus testing.[6] Orkin has been involved with several initiatives to increase testing rates of HIV/AIDS, and in 2015 she launched Going Viral, a week to raise awareness of blood-borne viruses.[5][7] The week-long campaign offered HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C testing in emergency departments around the United Kingdom. It proposed an opt-out blood-borne disease testing strategy.[8] Over 3% of the cohort, who were tested as part of their routine blood tests, were infected with blood-borne diseases, and the prevalence was strongest in men aged between 35 and 55.[8] The campaign was supported by several high profile celebrities, including Tim Westwood, Elton John amd Sadie Frost.[9]

She was the first to lead a phase III clinical trial into the use of injectable anti-retrovirals. After appearing on ITV News to discuss the treatment,[10] she was attacked on social media by misogynistic and homophobic slurs.[1][11] This experience led her to become more aware of the gender and sexuality-based discrimination. Shortly after she was elected President of the Medical Women's Federation.[12][13] Orkin has served as Chair of the British HIV Association.[14][15]

In 2018 Orkin and the British HIV Association announced their commitment to the Undetectable=Untransmittable (U=U) campaign.[16][17]

Selected publications
  • Corti D, Langedijk JP, Hinz A, Seaman MS, Vanzetta F, Fernandez-Rodriguez BM, et al. (January 2010). Unutmaz D (ed.). "Analysis of memory B cell responses and isolation of novel monoclonal antibodies with neutralizing breadth from HIV-1-infected individuals". PLOS One. 5 (1): e8805. Bibcode:2010PLoSO...5.8805C. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008805. PMC 2808385. PMID 20098712.
  • Raffi F, Rachlis A, Stellbrink HJ, Hardy WD, Torti C, Orkin C, et al. (March 2013). "Once-daily dolutegravir versus raltegravir in antiretroviral-naive adults with HIV-1 infection: 48 week results from the randomised, double-blind, non-inferiority SPRING-2 study". Lancet. 381 (9868): 735–43. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61853-4. PMID 23306000. S2CID 36080632.
  • Williams I, Churchill D, Anderson J, Boffito M, Bower M, Cairns G, et al. (January 2014). "British HIV Association guidelines for the treatment of HIV-1-positive adults with antiretroviral therapy 2012 (Updated November 2013. All changed text is cast in yellow highlight.)". HIV Medicine. 15 Suppl 1: 1–85. doi:10.1111/hiv.12119. PMID 24330011.

Personal life

Orkin is openly lesbian.[18] She lives in London with her wife Flick Thorley, who has also been involved in specialist HIV work, both in the UK and abroad. They share a home with their three dogs and two cats.

References
  1. "This Doctor Can: Fighting HIV". RCP London. 2019-12-12. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  2. "HIV&AIDS 2018 Program". ashm.eventsair.com. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  3. "Positive news for HIV treatment in UK — but the illness still carries a stigma". inews.co.uk. 2019-10-28. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  4. "Interview with NCHIV speaker, Chloe Orkin | Stichting HIV Monitoring". www.hiv-monitoring.nl. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  5. "NHS England » Professor Chloe Orkin". www.england.nhs.uk. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  6. "Staff - Chloe Orkin - Blizard Institute - Barts and The London". www.qmul.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  7. Parry S, Bundle N, Ullah S, Foster GR, Ahmad K, Tong CY, et al. (June 2018). "Implementing routine blood-borne virus testing for HCV, HBV and HIV at a London Emergency Department - uncovering the iceberg?". Epidemiology and Infection. 146 (8): 1026–1035. doi:10.1017/S0950268818000870. PMID 29661260.
  8. "'Going Viral': Hepatitis C/ B/ HIV testing in 9 Emergency Departments". www.qualityincare.org. 2015-10-22. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  9. "Celebrities back NHS first as Barts Health NHS Trust leads national campaign to routinely test emergency patients for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C". www.bhiva.org. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  10. "Why a monthly HIV injection is a huge medical breakthrough". ITV News. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  11. 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 2020-06-13.
  12. "SMD - Professor appointed as Vice-President of Medical Women's Federation - Queen Mary University of London". www.qmul.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  13. "Who's who? - Medical Women's Federation". www.medicalwomensfederation.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  14. "Speaker biography - Chloe Orkin - 17th European AIDS Conference". eacs-conference2019.com. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  15. "Chloe Orkin: The future of HIV services". The King's Fund. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  16. "BHIVA encourages universal promotion of Undetectable=Untransmittable (U=U)". www.bhiva.org. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  17. "U=U – GMG". Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  18. "VISIBLE LESBIAN 100". Lesbian Visibility Week. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
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