Harrison W. Farber, M.D.

Faculty and Fellows


hfarber@bu.edu

Professor of Medicine
Director, Pulmonary Hypertension Center, Boston University/Boston Medical Center

Medical School: George Washington University
Internship: Medical College of Virginia
Residency: Medical College of Virginia
Chief Resident: Medical College of Virginia
Fellowship: Boston University
Post-doctoral Fellowships/Training: Harvard Medical School/Beth Israel Hospital

Special Interests:

Research:

  • Pulmonary vascular biology
  • Endothelial cell biology

Clinical:

  • Pulmonary vascular disease (Pulmonary Hypertension)
  • Critical Care Medicine

Dr. Farber is a Professor in the Department of Medicine and attends in the Medical Intensive Care Unit and on the Pulmonary Consultation Service at Boston Medical Center. He also oversees the care of all patients with Pulmonary Hypertension at Boston Medical Center.

Dr. Farber’s research focuses on endothelial cell biology, in particular, the response of the pulmonary vasculature to injury. He has extensive government and private funding and is an NIH-funded Principle Investigator on several grants. He is a member of several research groups both within the Pulmonary Center and in other divisions within the Department of Medicine: the Pulmonary Vascular Biology Group (Pulmonary Center); the Center for Excellence in Sickle Cell Disease (Hematology), the Scleroderma Vascular Disease Group (Rheumatology) and Pulmonary Vascular/Left Ventricular Study Group (Cardiology). Dr. Farber’s laboratory is investigating the response of the pulmonary vasculature in different etiologies of pulmonary hypertension using genomic and proteomic approaches to identify unique molecules as potential targets for new therapies for pulmonary hypertension associated with sickle cell disease, with scleroderma, and with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction.

We are also developing a database and registry of sickle cell patients with pulmonary hypertension (see Dr. Klings faculty page and the Sickle Cell Lung Disease website) as well as a database and registry of scleroderma patients with various forms of pulmonary disease including pulmonary hypertension. We also participate in numerous multi-center clinical trials of new therapies for pulmonary hypertension and have several single-site trials for novel proof of concept therapies for pulmonary hypertension (See our Translational-Clinical Research Site).

Selected Publications:

  1. Badesch DB, Raskob G, Elliott G, Krichman AM, Farber HW, Frost A, Barst RJ, Doyle R, Benza R, Liou TG, Turner M, Giles S, Feldkircher K, Miller DP, McGoon M. Pulmonary arterial hypertension: Current demographics, diagnosis and treatment patterns. Baseline characteristics from the REVEAL registry (submitted).
  2. Farber HW. The status of pulmonary arterial hypertension in 2008. Circulation 2008; 117:2996-2998.
  3. McGoon M, Krichman AM, Farber HW, Barst RJ, Raskob G, Liou TG, Miller DP, Feldkircher K, Giles S. Design of the REVEAL registry for US patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. Mayo Clin Proc (in press).
  4. Safaya S, Klings ES, Odhiambo A, Li G, Farber HW, Steinberg MH. Effect of sodium butyrate on TNFSF15 (vascular endothelial growth inhibitor, TL1A) expression in lung endothelium: Cell-specific and sequence-selective expression of TNFSF15. Cytokine (in press).
  5. Klings ES, Bland DA, Rosenman D, Princeton S, Odhiambo A, Li G, Bernard SA,. Steinberg MA, Farber HW. Pulmonary arterial hypertension and left-sided heart disease in sickle cell disease: Clinical characteristics and association with soluble adhesion molecule expression. Am J Hematol 2008; 83:547-553.
  6. Odhuambo A, Perlman D, Huang H, Costello C, Farber HW, Steinberg MH, McComb M, Klings ES. Identification of oxidative post-translational modifications on plasma albumin in patients with pulmonary hypertension of sickle cell anemia. Rapid Comm in Mass Spectrom 2007; 21:2195-2203.
  7. Steiner MK, Preston IR, Klinger JR, Criner GJ, Waxman AB, Farber HW, Hill NS. Conversion to bosentan from prostacyclin infusion therapy in pulmonary arterial hypertension: A pilot study. Chest 2006;130:1471-1480
  8. Fiack CA, Farber HW. Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. N Engl J Med 2006; 355:1828 (letter).
  9. Patterson KC, W eissmann A, Ahmadi T, Farber HW. Imatinib mesylate in the treatment of refractory idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension. Ann Intern Med 2006; 1 45:152-153.
  10. Fisher KA, Serlin DM, Wilson KC, Walter RE, Farber HW. Sarcoidosis associated pulmonary hypertension: Outcome with long-term epoprostenol treatment. Chest 2006; 130: 1481-1488.
  11. Tam DH, Farber HW. Pulmonary hypertension and b -thalassemia major: Report of a case, its treatment, and a review of the literature . Am J Hematol 2006; 81:443-447.
  12. Klinger JR, Thaker S, Houtchens J, Preston IR, Hill NS , Farber HW. Pulmonary hemodynamic responses to brain natriuretic peptide and sildenafil in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension . Chest 2006; 129:417-425.
  13. Ieong MH, Farber HW. Non-infectious pulmonary complications of HIV infection Clin Pulm Med 2006; 13:194-202.
  14. Preston IR, Klinger JR, Houtches J, Nelson D, Farber HW, Hill NS . Acute and chronic effects of sildenafil in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. Respir Med 2005; 99:1501-1510.
  15. Klings ES, Safaya S, Adewoye AH, Odhiambo A, Frampton G, Lenburg G, Gerry N, Sebastiani P, Steinberg MH, Farber HW. Differential gene expression in pulmonary artery endothelial cells exposed to sickle cell plasma. Physiol Genomics 2005; 21:293-298.
  16. Farber HW, Loscalzo J. Pulmonary Hypertension (Mechanisms of Disease). N Engl J Med 2004; 351:1655-1665

For further information concerning Dr Farber’s research and clinical activities, see:

Clinics:
Dr. Farber sees patients at Boston Medical Center at the following locations:

  • Doctor’s Office Building (Thursday AM)
  • Harrison Avevue Campus/ Dowling Building (Thursday PM)