Andrea Orsey, MD, MSCE

Associate Professor (PI)

Department of Pediatrics, University of Connecticut School of Medicine

Associate Chair of Education
Director, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program
Director, Cancer Supportive Care Program
Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist

Research Overview

As a pediatric hematologist/oncologist as well as a physical therapist, I develop and conduct clinical studies to evaluate the impact of physical activity on sleep, quality of life and fatigue among children with cancer. A cross-sectional study of children between 8-18 years of age receiving chemotherapy for an oncologic diagnosis demonstrated that greater levels of physical activity is correlated with improved quality and quantity of sleep. I now am conducting a pilot interventional study to assess an exercise intervention as a potential non-pharmacological modality to improve sleep, enhance quality of life and decreases fatigue for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) receiving maintenance chemotherapy. I will be conducting a multi-institutional clinical trial following the pilot study. I also am part of the a cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional research team awarded a grant by the Institute for Systems Genomics (ISG) Affinity Research Collaborative (ARC) committee to study the use of diversity outbred mice to study cardiotoxicity of chemotherapy. I am developing a physical activity program to evaluate the potential to modify cardiotoxicity with an exercise intervention. Crystal Park and I are developing a study of a yoga intervention to improve pediatric oncology patients’ sleep and quality of life.

Education

1992-1996 B.S., McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (Physical Therapy)
1997-2001 M.D., University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut
2001-2002 Intern in Pediatrics, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
2002-2004 Resident in Pediatrics, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
2004-2007 Fellowship, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
2005-2007 M.S.C.E., Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Recent/Selected Publications

Research Gate