Robert A. Harrington, MD
Director, Duke Clinical Research Institute
Department / Division
Medicine /
Medicine - Cardiology
Address
2400 Pratt Street, Room 7028
Durham, NC 27705
Appointment Telephone
919-681-5816
Office Telephone
919-668-8749
Fax Telephone
919-668-7072
- MD, Tufts University School of Medicine (Massachusetts), 1986
- Internal Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, 1986-1990
- Cardiology, Duke University Medical Center, 1990-1993
Clinical Interests
Interventional cardiology, ischemic heart disease, acute coronary care, cardiovascular clinical trials
Research Interests
Robert A. Harrington, MD is the Director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI).
Dr. Harrington received his undergraduate degree in English from the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA. He attended Dartmouth Medical School and received his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine in 1986. He was an intern, resident and the Chief Medical Resident in internal medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. He was a fellow in cardiology at Duke University Medical Center, where he received training in interventional cardiology and research training in the Duke Databank for Cardiovascular Diseases. He joined the Duke faculty in the Division of Cardiology in 1993; he is currently the Richard S. Stack MD Distinguished Professor and an invasive cardiologist.
Since 2006, Harrington has directed the largest academic clinical research organization in the world, the DCRI, where he leads a faculty of > 200 that represent every major therapeutic area in medicine. In addition, Harrington directs a professional staff of over 1100 and is responsible for an annual operating budget of approximately $150M, 40% of which is from NIH grants and contracts. There are active research programs at the DCRI in the coordination of all phases of clinical trials (Phase 1-4) as well as extensive health services research programs. The research fellowship program has > 30 MD and PhD fellows receiving advanced research training. DCRI faculty and fellows published over 750 peer review papers yearly. Harrington also maintains his own active research program leading trials focusing on novel antiplatelet and anticoagulant treatments for cardiovascular disease and on improving the methodology for performing clinical trials.
His research interests include evaluating antithrombotic therapies to treat acute ischemic heart disease and to minimize the acute complications of percutaneous coronary procedures, studying the mechanism of disease of the acute coronary syndromes, understanding the issues of risk stratification in the care of patients with acute ischemic coronary syndromes, trying to better understand and improve upon the methodology of clinical trials. He is the recipient of an NIH GO (Grand Opportunity) grant to investigate how to incorporate randomized clinical trials into clinical practice registries.
He has authored multiple peer-reviewed manuscripts, reviews, book chapters, and editorials. He was one of the senior co-editors for the 8th edition of the American College of Chest Physicians’ Consensus Panel on Antithrombotic and Thrombolytic Drugs and for the 13th edition of Hurst’s The Heart. He is an Associate Editor of the American Heart Journal and an editorial board member for the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the Society of Cardiovascular Angiography and Intervention, the American College of Chest Physicians and the European Society of Cardiology. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the American College of Cardiology. He recently served as chair of the FDA Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee. He will chair the annual sessions of the American Heart Association in 2013-14.
This physician (or a member of their immediate family) has a working relationship (i.e. consulting, research, and/or educational services) with the companies listed below. These relations have been reported to the health system leadership and, when appropriate, management plans are in place to address potential conflicts.
- APT Nidus Center
- AstraZeneca
- Baxter Healthcare
- Boehringer Ingelheim
- Bristol-Myers Squibb
- CSL Behring AG
- Eisai, Inc.
- Faculty Connection
- Gilead Sciences, Inc.
- GlaxoSmithKline
- Merck & Co. USA (not assoc'd with Merck KGaA)
- Mitsubishi Tanabe
- Novartis
- Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc.
- Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
- Regado Biosciences Inc
- Sanofi-Aventis
- The Medicines Company
- WebMD
