Archana M. Agarwal, MBBS, MD

Languages Spoken: English, Hindi

My clinical service responsibilities are in hematopathology, where I sign out molecular hematopathology, lymph node/bone marrow cases and flow cytometric evaluation for blood related disorders. My other clinical service responsibilities are in the Red Blood Cell Laboratory/Special Genetics Laboratory at ARUP, where I am the Co Medical Director. In this capacity, I am involved in review of patient test results, case sign out, review of quality control and quality assurance data, proficiency testing, and other clinical and administrative laboratory-related activities. I also provide consultation with clinical colleagues both locally and nationally in the area of hemoglobinopathies. My goal is to provide physicians with high quality test results and to give them my consultative expertise. In the area of teaching, I act as Director for the hemoglobinopathy/ thalassemia and benign red blood cell disorders rotation for hematopathology fellows.

I am involved with multiple research projects in our department, some of which are collaborative projects involving many other clinical departments.

1. Developing diagnostic techniques for red cell membrane disorders:

One of the major areas of my interest is red blood cell membrane defects and hemoglobinopathies. Hemolytic anemias due to abnormalities of the erythrocyte membrane comprise an important group of inherited disorders. Suggested first step screening for red cell membrane defects include RBC indices, the panel of osmotic fragility (OF) tests and eosin-5-maleimide (EMA) binding tests. One of my major goals is to establish a panel for the diagnosis of these disorders by offering a combination of tests like OF+EMA+SDS PAGE analysis. Another area of my interest is development of molecular genetics based techniques in the diagnosis and counseling of carriers of red cell disorders.

2. Developing novel methods for diagnosis of hemoglobin disorders/hemoglobinopathies:

3. Project involved in identifying the genetic risk factors causing extreme hyperbilirubinemia in newborn infants”.