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Nareg Roubinian, MD, MPHTM, is a clinical investigator with appointments at the Research Institute, the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Roubinian received his BS from the University of California, Berkeley and his MD from the University of Vermont College of Medicine. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, and his fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at UCSF.
Nareg Roubinian, MD, MPHTM 270 Masonic Avenue San Francisco, CA 94118 Click Here For Email Phone: (415) 749-5771 x655
Pulmonary transfusion reactions are important complications of blood transfusions yet differentiating these clinical syndromes remains diagnostically challenging. Within the NHLBI-funded Recipient Epidemiology Donor Evaluation Study-III (REDS-III), I helped lead the Severe Transfusion Reactions Including Pulmonary Edema (STRIPE) study of pulmonary transfusion reactions, such as transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) and transfusion-associated circulatory overload (TACO). As part of STRIPE and parallel studies including TRALI SCCOR, we have been examining the role of laboratory biomarkers in identifying individuals at highest risk of developing a transfusion-related pulmonary complication with the goal of improving the specificity of definitions of these clinical syndromes.
Our work with the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research has been relevant to the understanding of clinical transfusion practice. The integrated and granular nature of this study setting has also provided the opportunity to study the impact of blood conservation and associated anemia on resource utilization and subsequent hospitalization. We have utilized the expertise in our collaboration to improve methodology of observational data in transfusion medicine and to develop tools to predict blood utilization using readily available discharge data and to help inform evidence-based guidelines for RBC transfusion.