BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Provide the following information for the key personnel and other significant contributors in the order listed on Form Page 2.
Follow this format for each person. DO NOT EXCEED FOUR PAGES.
NAME
POSITION TITLE
Sanjeev Arora, MD, FACP
Professor of Medicine, University of New Mexico
Director, Project ECHO
eRA COMMONS USER NAME
06Aroras
EDUCATION/TRAINING (Begin with baccalaureate or other initial professional education, such as nursing, and include postdoctoral training.)
INSTITUTION AND LOCATION
Maharajah’s College, Jaipur, India
Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, India
Army Hospital, Delhi, India
Safdurjung Hospital, New Delhi, India
Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY
Sisters of Charity Hospital, State University of
New York, Buffalo, NY
Gastroenterology, New England Medical Center,
Boston, MA
DEGREE
(if applicable)
YEAR(s)
FIELD OF STUDY
M.B.B.S.
MD
Internship
Residency
Residency
Residency
1974
1978
1980
1981
1982
1985
Premedical
Medicine
Internal Medicine
Medicine
Surgery
Medicine
Fellowship
1987
Gastroenterology
A. Personal Statement
As founder and Director of Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes), I am the key
person to guide the evolution and evaluation of the ECHO model. As well as provide support for the effective
implementation of new research initiatives. To date I have authored several publications on the outcomes of
Project ECHO, the most recent being an in-depth evaluation of ECHO’s hepatitis C program in the New
England Journal of Medicine.
The mission of Project ECHO is to develop the capacity to safely and effectively treat chronic, common, and
complex diseases in rural and underserved areas, and to monitor outcomes of this treatment. Dr Arora
developed a collaborative partnership of the University Of New Mexico School Of Medicine, the New Mexico
Department of Health, the State Department of Corrections, and community physicians to treat complex
diseases in remote, rural parts of the state. Twenty one centers for treatment of Hepatitis C have been
established in rural New Mexico and prisons.
I developed the Project ECHO model as a platform for service delivery, education and evaluation. Using videoconferencing technology and case-based learning, primary care providers from rural and underserved areas
and prisons are trained and mentored by ECHO’s medical specialists to deliver best-practice management of
complex health conditions in their communities or correctional institutions. A key component of the ECHO
model is an innovation known as Knowledge Networks, in which the expertise of a single specialist is shared
with numerous primary providers through telehealth clinics, thereby increasing access to care in rural areas
without having to recruit, retain and fund additional providers. In 2007, Project ECHO came in first among more
than 300 entries from 27 countries in winning the Changemakers award. This international competition was
sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson and Ashoka Foundations to identify programs that are changing the
paradigm of how medicine is practiced. In 2009, Project ECHO received grant funding from the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation for demonstration and replication of the ECHO model as a robust paradigm to expand
best practice care for vulnerable populations. In 2012, Project ECHO won the Health Care Innovation
Challenge award from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to leverage the ECHO model to create
a coordinated care system for high utilizers.
My FTE is 1.0 and is divided by the following: .70 Research, .15 Clinical. .05 Education. .10 Administration.
B. Positions and Honors
Professional Experience:
1987-1993
1993
1993-1998
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine
Associate Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine
Section Chief of Gastroenterology and Associate Professor of Medicine, Department of
Medicine, UNM
1999
President, University Physician Associates
1997-present Member, Clinical Operations Board UNM HSC
1998-2010
Director, Office of Clinical Affairs, Department of Internal Medicine, UNM HSC
2002-2004
Vice-Chair, Department of Internal Medicine, UNM HSC
2004-2010
Executive Vice-Chair, Department of Internal Medicine, UNM HSC
2000-present Professor of Medicine, University of New Mexico, School of Medicine
2004-present Director, Project ECHO
2012
Excellence in Clinical Research Award, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center
Hospital Appointments:
1987-1993
Staff Physician, Division of Gastroenterology, New England Medical Center, Boston, MA
1993-present Staff Gastroenterologist, University of New Mexico Hospital, Albuquerque, NM
1995-present Member, Medical Executive Committee
1997-1999
Chief of Medical Staff, University of New Mexico, Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM
C.
Selected peer-reviewed publications (Selected from 55 peer-reviewed publications)
Most relevant to the current application
Arora S, Thornton K, Murata G, Deming P, Kalishman S, Dion D, Parish B, Burke T, Pak W, Dunkelberg J,
Kistin M, Brown J, Jenkusky S, Komaromy M, Qualls C. “Outcomes of Treatment for Hepatitis C Virus Infection
by Primary Care Providers” N Engl J Med. 2011 Jun;364:2199-207.
Arora S, Kalishman S, Dion D, Som D, Thornton K, Bankhurst A, Boyle J, Harkins M, Moseley k, Murata G,
Komaramy M, Katzman J, Colleran K, Deming P, Yutzy S. “Quality Profile: Partnering Urban Academic
Medical Centers and Rural Primary Care Clinicians to Provide Complex Chronic Disease Care,” Health Affairs.
2011 Jun;30(6): 1176-84.
Arora S, Kalishman S, Thornton K, Dion D, Murata G, Deming P, Parish B, Brown J, Komaromy M, Colleran K,
Bankhurst A, Katzman J, Harkins M, Curet L, Cosgrove E, Pak W. “Expanding Access to Hepatitis C Virus
Treatment – Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) Project: Disruptive Innovation in
Specialty Care,” Hepatology. 2010 Sept;52(3):1124-33.
Additional recent publications (in chronological order)
Arora S, Thornton K, Bradford A. “Access to Care: Management of Hepatitis C Viral
Infection in Remote Locations ,” Clinical Liver Disease. 2012 July;1(3):87-90.
Colleran K, Harding E, Kipp BJ, Zurawski A, Macmillan B, Jelinkova L, Kalishman S, Dion D, Arora S.
“Building capacity to reduce disparities in diabetes: training community health workers using an integrated
distance learning model,” Diabetes Educ. 2012 May;38(3):386-96.
Shah SK, Arora S, Skipper B, Kalishman S, Timm TC, Smith AY. “Randomized evaluation of a web based
interview process for urology resident selection,” J Urol 2012 Apr;187(4):1380-4.
Thompson AJ, Patel K, Chuang WL, Lawitz EJ, Rodriguez-Torres M, Rustgi VK, Flisiak R, Pianko S, Diago M,
Arora S, Foster GR, Torbenson M, Benhamou Y, Nelson DR, Sulkowski MS, Zeuzem S, Pulkstenis E,
Subramanian GM, McHutchison JG; ACHIEVE-1 and ACHIEVE-2/3 Study Teams. “Viral Clearance is
Associated with Improved Insulin Resistance in Genotype 1 Chronic Hepatitis C but Not Genotype 2/3,” Gut.
2012 Jan;61(1):128-134.
Harkins MS, Raissy H, Moseley K, Luttecke K, Arora S. “Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes
Project – Asthma Specialty Consultation Via Telehealth to Improve Asthma Care in rural New Mexico, “ US
Respiratory Diseases. 2011;7(1):7-9.
Deming P, Arora S. “Tarbavirin in the Treatment of Hepatitis C” Informa Healthcare. Expert Opin Investig
Drugs. 2011 Oct;20(20):1435-43.
McHutchison JG, Mann, MP, Muir AJ, et al. Telaprevir for previously treated chronic HCV infection.
Collaborator Arora S. N Engl J Med 2010;362:1292-303.
Yu S, Douglass JM, Qualls C, Arora S, Dunkelburg JC. “Response to Therapy with Pegylated Interferon and
Ribavirin for Chronic Hepatitis C In Hispanics Compared to Non-Hispanic Whites,” American Journal of
Gastroentrology. 2009 Jul;104(7):1686-92.
Berkley, EM, Leslie, KK, Arora, S, Qualls, C, Dunkelberg, JC. “Chronic Hepatitis C in Pregnancy,” Obstet
Gynecol. 2008 Aug;112(2 Pt 1):304-10.
Geppert C, Arora S, “Widening the Door: The Evolution of Hepatitis C Treatment in Patients with
PsychiatricDisorders”, Hepatology 2007, Vol. 46, No. 4, 957-959.
Arora S, Thornton K, Jenkusky S, Parish B, Scaletti J. “Project ECHO: Linking University Specialists with
Rural and Prison-Based Clinicians to Improve Care for People with Chronic Hepatitis C in New Mexico”, Public
Health Rep. 2007;122 Suppl 2:74-7.
Arora S, Geppert C, Kalishman S, Dion D, Ppullara F, Bjeletich B, Simpson G, Alverson D, Moore L, Kuhl D,
Scaletti J. “Academic Medical Center Management of Chronic Diseases through the Use of Knowledge
Networks: Project ECHO—The Example of Chronic Hepatitis C in New Mexico”, Acad Med. 2007;82(2):15460.
Sanjeev Arora, Christopher O’Brien, Stefan Zeuzem, Mitchell L. Shiffman, Moises Diago, Albert Tran, Paul J.
Pockros, Robert W. Reindollar, Edward Gane, Kavita Patel, Neil Wintfeld, Jesse Green. Treatment of chronic
hepatitis C patients with persistently ‘normal’ ALT levels with the combination of peginterferon alfa-2a (40KD)
plus ribavirin: impact on health-related quality of life. Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 21
February 2006, 406-412
Geppert C, Arora S, “Ethical Issues in the Treatment of Hepatitis C”, Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology,
2005;3:937-944
Waldman JD, Arora, S. Measuring Retention Rather than Turnover: A Different and Complementary HR
Calculus. Human Resource Planning 2004:27(3):6-9.
Arora S, Xu C, Teng A, Peterson J, Yeh LT, Gish R, Lau D, Rossi S, Lin CC, “Ascending multiple-dose
pharmacokinetics of viramidine, a prodrug of ribavirin, in adult subjects with compensated hepatitis C infection.
J Clin Pharmacol. 2005 Mar;45(3):275-85.
Sulkowski M, Rossi S, Wright T, Arora S, Lamb M, Yalamanchili S, Want K, Gries J. Peginterferon alfa-2a
Does Not Alter the Pharmacokinetics of Methadone in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C on Methadone
Maintenance Therapy. Clin Pharmacol Therapeutics, 2005 Mar;77(3):214-24.
Waldman JD, Kelly F, Arora S, Smith H. The Shocking Cost of Turnover in Health Care. Health Care Manage
Rev, 2004, 29(1), 2-7.
Brennan B, Rosenberg G, Arora S. Best Cases for AFIP (Armed Institute of Pathology): Bouveret’s Syndrome.
Radiographics, 2004, 24(4), 1171-1175.
D. Research Support.
Ongoing research support:
GE Foundation
Arora (PI)
12/14/2012-12/13/2015
Rural Access to Primary Care through Project ECHO
The goal of this project is to expand the availability of treatment for addiction using the ECHO model.
Role: PI
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Arora (PI)
07/01/2012-6/30/2015
Leverage innovative care delivery and coordination model: Project ECHO (Health Care Innovation Challenge).
The goal of this project is to identify 5,000 high-utilization patients in New Mexico and Washington State, and
use a team of primary care “outpatient intensivists” trained to care for complex patients with multiple chronic
diseases, working with area managed care organizations and care providers.
Role: PI
New Mexico Human Services Department
Arora (PI)
7/1/12-6/30/13
Medicaid Match for Project ECHO
The goal of this project is to expand treatment of Medicaid members using the ECHO model.
Role: PI
U.S. Department of Defense
Arora (PI)
5/15/12-5/14/14
Project ECHO IPA with the Department of Defense
The goal of this project is to expand chronic pain care within the DOD using the ECHO model.
Role: PI
1R18HS018171
Arora (PI)
09/30/2009-7/31/2013
Project ECHO Hepatitis C Ambulatory Care Quality Improvement in New Mexico through Health Information
Technology.
The goal of this project was to create an information technology platform for the secure exchange of data
between Project ECHO and its partner sites.
Role: PI
New Mexico Department of Health
Arora (PI)
07/01/07-06/30/12
Project ECHO: Extension for Community Health Outcomes
The goal of this project was to support hepatitis C treatment rollout in rural New Mexico.
Role: PI
Research Trials for 2012:
Phase 3, Multicenter, Randomized, Open-Label Study to Investigate the Efficacy and Safety of Sofosbuvir/GS5885 Fixed-Dose Combination ± Ribavirin for 12 and 24 Weeks in Treatment-Naïve Subjects with Chronic
Genotype 1 HCV Infection. GS-US-102
A Phase 3, Multicenter, Randomized, Open-Label Study to Investigate the Efficacy and Safety of
Sofosbuvir/GS-5885 Fixed-Dose Combination ± Ribavirin for 12 and 24 Weeks in Treatment-Experienced
Subjects with Chronic Genotype 1 HCV Infection. GS-US-109
A Randomized, Open-Label, Multicenter Study to Evaluate the Safety and Antiviral Activity of the Combination
of ABT-450 with Ritonavir (ABT-450/r), ABT-267, and ABT-333 With and Without Ribavirin in TreatmentExperienced Subjects with Genotype 1 Chronic Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Infection (PEARL-II)
Multicenter, Prospective Evaluation of the Beckman Coulter DxN HCV Viral Load Assay as an aid in the
Management of HCV-Infected Individuals Undergoing Antiviral