About

To date, my research interests have focused primarily on the investigation of coagulation system in inflammatory disorders with a thrombotic phenotype. There is known to be a close interplay between inflammation and coagulation, however, not all inflammation predisposes to thrombosis. My work aims to help better understand the role and mechanism(s) of coagulation activation in certain inflammatory disorders, and how this coagulation activation may lead to both increased thrombotic risk as well as heightened inflammation through positive feedback mechanisms. An area of specific interest is inflammatory bowel disease, which is a chronic remitting relapsing inflammatory disorder that affects predominantly adolescents and young adults and carries with it an associated increased risk of thrombosis. This area of research was the basis for a previous Mentored Research Award from the Hemostasis and Thrombosis Research Society.

Much of my research effort has also focused on microparticles and their potential role in coagulation activation and thrombotic risk in disease states. I have a particular interest in the evaluation of microparticles by flow cytometry, which allows both enumeration and characterization according to cell of origin. I have been involved in collaborative efforts aimed at standardizing and refining flow cytometric techniques in microparticle analysis in an attempt improve our understanding of their potential role in disease processes.