Catherine Orrell

Catherine Orrell is a clinical pharmacologist and clinical trials specialist who has worked as principal and co-investigator in clinical research at the DTHF since 1998. The studies she has worked on include the DAIDS-funded CIPRASA studies and both SMART and START INSIGHT Network studies. She has been principal investigator on 10 clinical trials and sub-investigator on more than 30 trials of antiretroviral drugs, including a range of efficacy, toxicity, interaction and dosing studies.

Dr Orrell is an experienced HIV clinician who played an integral role in developing a number of HIV care and treatment services in the Cape Town area, including the Masiphumelele ART service. Over the past 10 years of work in the antiretroviral field, she has developed a deep interest in factors promoting the success of antiretroviral therapy when delivered in a resource poor setting to large numbers of people, including adherence, retention in care and task-shifting to other staff cadres.

With the special interest in clinical pharmacology came the recognition that biological factors, such as drug absorption and metabolism, may also play a role in treatment success and resistance; this is the field which she is currently exploring for her PhD