Biosketch

Dr. Weiss received his B.A. from Johns Hopkins University, and M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago. He did postdoctoral training at the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research in Lausanne and internal medicine and rheumatology training at UCSF. Dr. Weiss is the Ephraim P. Engleman Distinguished Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and been on its faculty since 1985. He served as Division Chief of Rheumatology at UCSF from 1988-2011. He has been an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 1985. Dr. Weiss is a leading researcher in the field of signal transduction in the immune system, focusing on the roles of tyrosine kinases and phosphatases in regulating lymphocyte activation and how abnormalities in signaling pathways can lead to immunologically-mediated diseases. Dr. Weiss received the Lee Howley Prize from the Arthritis Foundation, Distinguished Investigator Award from the American College of Rheumatology, the Lifetime Achievement and Meritorious Career Awards from the American Association of Immunologists and the William Coley Award from the Cancer Research Institute. He is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, EMBO and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Research Interests

Dr. Weiss' studies have focused on the structure/function of the T cell antigen receptor (TCR). Hi studies on TCR zeta chain chimeras inspired the early development of adoptive tumor immunotherapy with chimeric antigen receptors, now an approved therapy for B cell malignancies. More recently, his lab has focused interest in the roles and regulation of cytoplasmic tyrosine kinases and transmembrane phosphatases. He has studied the influence of dysregulation of tyrosine kinases, particularly of ZAP-70, and phosphatases such as CD45 and CD148 on mouse models of lymphoproliferation, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, patient immune deficiency and familial autoimmunity syndromes.

Membership Type

Member

Election Year

2003

Primary Section

Section 43: Immunology and Inflammation

Secondary Section

Section 41: Medical Genetics, Hematology, and Oncology