النخلة | عائلة الأغا

Distinctions, Prizes and Awards
• Graduation with honors, 1995

• 0’ Donovan medal for best research paper presented at the Irish Endocrine Society Annual Scientific Conference, Dublin, 2004

• The American Endocrine Society Travel Award, 2005, for outstanding research submitted by a post-doc fellow in training.

• Pfizer Ireland Traveling Fellowship Award 1st prize, 2005. Awarded by an independent panel of physicians, in open competition, to a non-consultant physician in training.

• The 2005 winner of the All Ireland, Irish Journal of Medical Sciences Doctors Award for Endocrinology and Diabetes.

• Inclusion in Marquis Who’s Who in the World (23rd edition, 2006) and Who’s Who in Science and Engineering, in recognition for” outstanding achievement in the field of science which contributed significantly to the betterment of contemporary society”.

Research

• My principal research interest is in The area of hypothalamic-pituitary disorders with particular reference to post-traumatic and post-radiation neuroendocrine dysfunction and the interactions between GH and the thyroid and adrenal axes.

• My research interest also extends to other areas of endocrinology and diabetes including glucocorticoid replacement, salt and water balance, adrenal disorders and vascular risks in diabetes.

• My research output has been published in leading medical journals in the field such as the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, the American Journal of Medicine and the American Journal of Physiology.

• My research has also received wide national and international recognition including scientific awards and invited lectures (please see relevant sections for details).

• I have also acted as an invited reviewer for Clinical Endocrinology, Pituitary and the Journal of Endocrinological Investigations.
MD Thesis: “Hypopituitarism following traumatic brain injury”.
This was a 2-year research project started in October 2002 and was completed in September 2004. It comprises several studies with two major themes:

1. Detailed studies of anterior and posterior pituitary dysfunction in a large cohort of survivors of traumatic brain injury (102 patients).

2. Defining the natural history of post-traumatic hypopituitarism by prospectively follow-up of 50 patients with traumatic brain injury. Detailed anterior and posterior pituitary assessment was carried out in the acute phase, 6 months, and 12 months post head injury.

Summary of Other Research
Completed
• Glucocorticoid replacement in central hypoadrenalism

• Disorders of osmoregulation in poorly-controlled diabetes
• Hypopituitarism following cranial irradiation for non-pituitary tumours: this research was published as the lead article in the December edition of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

• Disorders of salt and water balance in neurosurgical patients and following aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage.

• Treatment outcome in acromegaly, Acromegaly Database

• Vascular risks in hypopituitary patients

• Long-term predictive accuracy of the short synacthen test (Birmingham)

• Diagnosis of primary aldosteronism
• The interaction of GH and the thyroid axis in hypopituitary patients Morbidity and mortality in adipsic Dl

• Vascular risk reduction in type-2 diabetes mellitus

Ongoing
• Effect of growth hormone on cortisol-to-cortisone interconversion in hypopituitary patients with growth hormone deficiency-influence of different aetiologies of hypopituitarism.

• Joint supervisor of a prospective research study in Beaumont Hospital to define practical criteria for the diagnosis of central adrenal failure in the acute phase of head injury.

Publications (Full Peer-Reviewed Papers)

Original Contributions
1. Agha A, Dillon D, Corbett M, Sreenan S. (2003)
Target blood pressure for patients with type 2 diabetes is difficult to achieve in the setting of a busy diabetes clinic.
Irish Journal of Medical Sciences 172: 168-170

2. Agha A, Liew A, Finucane F, Baker L,Tormey W, Thompson CJ. (2004) Conventional glucocorticoid replacement overtreats adult hypopituitary patients with partial ACTH deficiency.
Clinical Endocrinology 60: 688-693

3. Agha A, Rogers B, Mylette D, Taleb F, Tormey W, Philips J, Thompson CJ. (2004) Neuroendocrine dysfunction in the acute phase of traumatic brain injury.
Clinical Endocrinology 60: 584-591

4. Agha A, Rogers B, Sherlock M, Tormey W, Philips J, Thompson CJ. (2004) Anterior pituitary dysfunction in survivors of traumatic brain injury. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 89: 4929-4936

5. Agha A, Smith D, Finucane F, Sherlock M, Morris A, Baylis PH, Thompson CJ. (2004) Attenuation of vasopressin induced antidiuresis in poorly controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus
American Journal of Physiology 287: E 1100-1106

6. Agha A, Thornton E, O’Kelly P, Tormey W, Phillips J, Thompson CJ. (2004) Posterior pituitary dysfunction following traumatic brain injury. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 89: 5987-5992

7. Agha A, Downey P, Farrell L, Keeting P, Leen E, Sreenan S. (2004) Acromegaly secondary to ectopic growth hormone-releasing hormone secretion
Irish Journal of Medical Sciences 173:215-216
8. Agha A, Sherlock M, Brennan S, O’Connor SA, O’Sullivan E, Rogers B,
Faul C, Rawluk D, Tormey W, Thompson CJ. (2005)
Hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction following irradiation of nonpituitary
brain tumours in adults.
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 90: 6355-6360

9. Agha A, O’Kelly P, Tormey W, Phillips J, Thompson CJ. (2005) The natural history of post-traumatic hypopituitarism: implications for assessment and treatment
American Journal of Medicine 118: 1416.el-1416.e7

10.Aqha A, Sherlock M, Tormey W, Phillips J, Thompson CJ. (2005) The natural history of post-traumatic neurohypophysial dysfunction. European Journal of Endocrinology 152: 371-377

11.Agha A, Sherlock M, Thompson CJ. (2005) Post-traumatic hyponatraemia due to acute hypopituitarism.
Quarterly Journal of Medicine 98: 463-464

12.Agha A, Ryan J, Sherlock M, Thompson CJ. (2005) Spontaneous
recovery of post-traumatic hypopituitarism.
American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 84: 381-
385

13. Sherlock M, Roche M, Agha A, Smith E, Thompson C. (2005) A case of haemophilus aphrophilus and mobiluncus spp. hepatic abscess Journal of Infection 51: 19-22

14.Aqha A, Brennan 5, Moore KB, Grogan L, Thompson CJ. (2005) Small cell lung cancer presenting as diabetes insipidus and Gushing’s syndrome.
Pituitary Epub ahead of print:

15. McDermott JH, Agha A, Gasparro D, Moeller L, Dumitrescu AM , Refetoff S, Sreenan S. (2005) A case of resistance to thyroid hormone without mutation in the thyroid hormone receptor Beta.
Irish Journal of Medical Sciences 174: 62-66

16.Aqha A, Tomlinson JW, Clark PM, Holder G, Stewart PM. (2006)
The long-term predictive accuracy of the short Synacthen (corticotropin)
test in the assessment of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function.
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 91: 43-47

17. Sherlock M, O’Sullivan E, Agha A, Behan LA, Rawluk D, Brennan P Tormey W’ Thompson CJ. (2004) The incidence and pathophysiology of hyponatraemia after subarachnoid haemorrhage.
Clinical Endocrinology (in press)

18. Sherlock M, Agha A, Smith D, Allcutt D, Thompson CJ. (2005) Diabetes insipidus following pituitary surgery for a macroprolactinoma. Pituitary (in press)

19. Sherlock M, O’Sullivan E, Agha A, Behan LA, Finucane F, Rawluk D, Tormey W, Thompson CJ. (2005) Implications of severe hyponatraemia in neurosurgical patients.
The Surgeon (in press)

20. Mac Mahon J, Agha A, Sherlock M, Moore M,TormeyW, Thompson CJ. (2005)lntensive Nurse-led, Multi-interventional clinic is more successful in achieving vascular risk reduction targets than standard diabetes care. Submitted to Diabetes care

21.Agha A, Walker D, DrakeWM, Chew SL, Grossman AB, Jenkins P, Monson JP. 2006 Unmasking of central hypothyroidism following growth hormone replacement in adult hypopituitary patients.
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (in press)
22. Agha A, Monson JP. 2005 The occurrence of parathyroid carcinoma in Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia (MEN) type 1 syndrome: two case reports. Submitted to the European Journal of Endocrinology

Reviews

23.Agha A, Thompson CJ. 2005
High Risk of Hypogonadism After TBI: Clinical Implications. Pituitary (in Press)

24.Aqha A, Thompson CJ. 2005
Posterior pituitary dysfunction after traumatic brain injury.
Proceedings of the 37th International Symposium of GH and Growth
Factors in Endocrinology and Metabolism: 153-157

25.Agha A, Thompson CJ. 2006
Anterior pituitary dysfunction following traumatic brain injury. Clinical Endocrinolgy (in press)

26.Aqha A, Monson JP. 2006
Interaction between growth hormone and glucocorticoids
Submitted to Clinical Endocrinolgy

Membership of Learned Societies
The Irish Endocrine Society
The Diabetes Federation of Ireland
The British Endocrine Societies
The (American) Endocrine Society