Infectious Disease Specialist
Mayo Clinic in Arizona
Disclosure(s): Ferring: Advisor/Consultant, Honoraria
Robert Orenstein, DO, FACP, FIDSA, is Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, and Chair of the Division of Infectious Diseases, at Mayo Clinic Arizona. Dr Orenstein earned a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and attended graduate school at Worcester Polytechnical Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts, studying Biomedical Engineering. He received his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine, in Iowa. He then did a rotating internship at Botsford General Hospital (Beaumont Health) in Farmington Hills, Michigan and an Internal Medicine residency at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania. He completed his subspecialty training in infectious diseases at The Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, in Richmond, Virginia. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease and holds a certificate in Travel Health from the International Society of Travel Medicine.
Dr. Orenstein has been engaged throughout his career as a clinical trialist. His research has principally focused on the prevention and management of healthcare-acquired infections and particularly Clostridiodes difficile infection. He helped design systems for surveillance of Clostridiodes difficile (C difficile) infection and designed interventions to reduce transmission of C difficile infections within the hospital environment. His team at Mayo Clinic in Arizona was one of the first in the USA to harvest the power of the microbiota to treat patients with recurring C difficile disease. He has been a Principal Investigator for numerous trials of investigational therapies for prevention of recurrent C difficile infections and safety and efficacy studies for new C difficile treatments. More recently, he has been engaged in investigating new therapeutics for COVID-19. Dr Orenstein has published 60+ research and scholarly articles in such peer-reviewed journals as Clinical Infectious Diseases, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Microbiome, Muscle & Nerve, Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, Therapeutic Advances in Infectious Disease, among others, and has authored one text and 15 book chapters. He has held numerous editorial positions and is emeritus Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association.
A renowned academician and mentor, Dr Orenstein is a recognized expert in C. difficile infection, and has presented nationally and internationally at conferences and annual meetings. He has received numerous honors and awards for scholarship, teaching, and innovation in clinical practice, and in 2019, received the Academy Award, the highest award from the American Academy of Osteopathy.