Denise Orwig, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Division of Gerontology
Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine
Associate Director of the Baltimore Hip Studies
University of Maryland School of Medicine

Denise Orwig received a B.S. in Psychology and Business from the University of Pittsburgh. She received an M.S. in Applied Behavioral Science from The Johns Hopkins University followed by a Ph.D. degree from the Pennsylvania State University in Biobehavioral Health with a minor in Gerontology.
She is trained in biobehavioral health and gerontology and has expertise in research with frail older adults and pharmacoepidemiology. For the past 5 years, Dr. Orwig has served as Associate Director of the Baltimore Hip Studies (BHS) (Dr. Jay Magaziner, Director), a research program dedicated to optimizing recovery from hip fracture in the elderly. She is a co-investigator on two large intervention studies of hip fracture patients funded by the NIA, as well as on another large study examining the prevalence of pressure ulcers after a hip fracture.  She is also site PI for two international RCTs with hip fracture patients, one evaluating the efficacy of an IV bisphosphonate, and the other evaluating transfusion thresholds post-surgery.  She collaborated with program leadership in both projects in establishing recruitment and measurement protocols.  In the course of these studies, Dr. Orwig has gained extensive experience in working with patients in the acute care setting and following them over time. She and her team in the Baltimore Hip Studies have established collaborative relationships with key medical personnel in 22 hospitals in the greater Baltimore area, Washington D.C., and southern Pennsylvania. Dr. Orwig, as Co-PI of the Epidemiology and Recruitment Core, also oversees recruitment of stroke patients for three intervention studies in the University of Maryland Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center.
In her pharmacoepidemiology research she has developed an instrument to assess older adult’s ability to self-medicate safely in the community.  She received funding from the American Association of Retired Persons, MedStar Research Institute, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, and the UMB Center for Alternative and Complementary Medicine to test the MedMaIDE instrument and to pursue other pharmacoepidemiologic issues related to Paget’s disease, bone strengthening medication use in black elderly, and complimentary and alternative medication use among minority elderly living in West Baltimore area communities.