Dr. Frelinger is the Associate Director of the Center for Platelet Research Studies and Research Associate in Hematology/Oncology at Children’s Hospital Boston and the Dana Farber Cancer Research Institute. He received his Ph.D. degree from Case Western Reserve University in 1984 and held post-doctoral fellowships with Dr. Urs Rutishauser in the Department of Anatomy, at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland OH, and with Dr. Mark H. Ginsberg in the Division of Vascular Biology at Scripps Clinic and Research Institute, La Jolla, CA. While at Scripps, Dr. Frelinger published the first description of Ligand Induced Binding Sites or LIBS on platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa. Dr. Frelinger subsequently worked in the biotechnology industry on the development of platelet-related therapeutic agents and platelet function monitoring devices before returning to academia in 1998 as Research Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA. While at the UMass Medical School, Dr. Frelinger became a member and later the Associate Director of the Center for Platelet Function Studies. Dr. Frelinger is a co-inventor on 3 U.S. patents and has published over 50 peer-reviewed original research articles and 19 reviews, chapters, and editorials, and has been an invited speaker at national and international meetings.
Dr. Frelinger’s current research interests are: 1) understanding the relationship between antiplatelet agent inhibition of platelet function as measured using in vitro tests and the risk of thrombosis or hemorrhage; 2) exploring the use of in vitro platelet function testing to guide antiplatelet therapy and achieve better clinical outcomes; 3) identifying mechanisms responsible for platelet hyperreactivity in patients on antiplatelet therapy; 4) defining the effect of antiplatelet agents on platelet contributions to coagulation and inflammation; 5) characterizing novel molecules and mechanisms for therapeutic platelet inhibition; and 6) defining the utility of dried platelet preparations as a component of hemostatic bandages.