Gary Firestein

Last updated
Gary S. Firestein
GSF Photo 2018 large.jpg
Dr. Firestein in 2018
Alma mater Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (M.D.) Harvard College (A.B.)
AwardsCarol-Nachman Prize for Rheumatology, Arthritis Foundation Lee C. Howley Sr. Prize for Arthritis Research, ACR Distinguished Investigator Award, Jane Wyman Humanitarian Award
HonorsDoctor of Science (hc), University of Glasgow, Master of the American College of Rheumatology, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Website https://profiles.ucsd.edu/gary.firestein

Gary S. Firestein is an American rheumatologist, professor, and founding director of the Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) [1] [2] at the University of California San Diego and Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences at University of California, San Diego.

Contents

His research focuses on developing novel therapeutic strategies for rheumatoid arthritis. [3]

Education and career

Firestein received his A.B. in chemistry from Harvard College in Cambridge, MA, in 1976 and his M.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD, in 1980. He completed his residency at the UCLA School of Medicine, followed by two fellowships, one in molecular biology at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in La Jolla, CA, and one in rheumatology at the University of California San Diego. He is board-certified in internal medicine (1983) and rheumatology (1986).

Firestein joined the faculty at UC San Diego School of Medicine as Assistant Professor of Medicine in 1988. Four years later, he was recruited by Gensia, Inc. to be Director of Immunology where he supervised drug discovery efforts focusing on the potential role of purines in inflammation. In 1996 he was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation. That same year, he returned to UC San Diego where he served as Chief of the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology from 1998 until 2010. In 2008, he became the Dean of Translational Medicine. In 2010, he became Associate Vice Chancellor of Translational Medicine and Director of the newly established ACTRI, which is funded in part through the NIH Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program. In 2020, the ACTRI was awarded its third consecutive successful NCATS CTSA U54 Award under Firestein's leadership, with an additional $55 M over the next 5 years dedicated to the advancement of clinical and translational science. In 2020, Dr. Firestein was named Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences.

He is the co-founder of Ignyta, Inc., a biotech company that went public in 2015 and was acquired by Roche in 2018. [4] Its lead drug entrectinib was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for certain cancers. [5] He is the co-creator of the University of California CTSA consortium called UC BRAID [6] [7] and served as its chairperson from 2013-2015. During his career, Firestein has served as the Principal Investigator on grants totaling more than $150 M in research funding, including numerous NIH and commercial-sponsored research grants and clinical trials. [8]

Firestein has served as editor and then the Editor-in-Chief of Firestein and Kelley’s Textbook of Rheumatology from the 7th through 12th editions. He has written over 400 articles [9] [10] [11] [12] and book chapters, and is past Deputy Editor of Arthritis & Rheumatology.

Service

Dr. Firestein is past chairperson of the FDA Arthritis Advisory Committee and has served on the Board of Directors of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), ACR Research and Education Foundation, as chairperson of the ACR Committee on Journal Publications, on the ACR Committee on Research, on the Arthritis Foundation Research Committee, on the Board of Directors for the Veteran's Medical Research Foundation, and on the NIH National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) Advisory Council. [13]

Research and honors

Dr. Firestein's research focuses on the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis, and his work contributed to the development of anti-cytokine therapy and signal transduction inhibitors that are now approved for use in many countries. More recently, he mapped the epigenome landscape of rheumatoid arthritis and used novel informatics tools to identify pathogenic pathways and novel therapeutic targets. Dr. Firestein was also the first to use percutaneous synovial biopsies to evaluate drug mechanism of action in arthritis and demonstrated that somatic mutation could increase joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis. [14] More recently, his research has included studies to evaluate immune dysfunction in individuals at risk for developing rheumatoid arthritis. His Google Scholar H index is 108 with nearly 50,000 citations. Firestein has received the Carol-Nachman Prize for Rheumatology, the Arthritis Foundation Lee C. Howley Sr. Prize for Arthritis Research, the ACR Distinguished Investigator Award, [15] the Jane Wyman Humanitarian Award, [16] and was named a Master of the American College of Rheumatology and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). [17] He has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. Dr. Firestein received a Doctor of Science (hc) from University of Glasgow in June 2019.

Personal

He is married to Linda Lyons Firestein, M.D., and they have a son (David Jonathan Firestein) and a daughter (Catherine Elizabeth Firestein, M.D., M.P.H.). Dr. Firestein has enjoyed surfing around the world and plays bluegrass music on the banjo.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rheumatoid arthritis</span> Type of autoimmune arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and hands are involved, with the same joints typically involved on both sides of the body. The disease may also affect other parts of the body, including skin, eyes, lungs, heart, nerves and blood. This may result in a low red blood cell count, inflammation around the lungs, and inflammation around the heart. Fever and low energy may also be present. Often, symptoms come on gradually over weeks to months.

The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) is one of the institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UC San Diego Health</span> Hospital in San Diego, California

UC San Diego Health is the academic health system of the University of California, San Diego in San Diego, California. It is the only academic health system serving San Diego and has one of only two adult Level I trauma centers in the region. In operation since 1966, it comprises UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest as well as Jacobs Medical Center, Moores Cancer Center, Shiley Eye Institute, Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center, and Koman Family Outpatient Pavilion, all located in La Jolla. It also includes several outpatient sites located throughout San Diego County. The health system works closely with the university's School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy to provide training to medical and pharmacy students and advanced clinical care to patients.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UC San Diego School of Medicine</span> Medical school of UC San Diego

The University of California San Diego School of Medicine is the graduate medical school of the University of California, San Diego. It was the third medical school in the University of California system, after those established at UCSF and UCLA, and is the only medical school in the San Diego metropolitan area. It is closely affiliated with the medical centers that are part of UC San Diego Health.

J(arvis) Edwin Seegmiller, or Jay Seegmiller, was an American physician and biochemical geneticist best known for his role in discovering the biochemical basis of the Lesch–Nyhan syndrome. He was a rheumatologist and a pioneer in research on arthritic diseases and on aging.

The American College of Rheumatology is an organization of and for physicians, health professionals, and scientists that advances rheumatology through programs of education, research, advocacy and practice support relating to the care of people with arthritis and rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti–citrullinated protein antibody</span> Autoantibodies

Anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPAs) are autoantibodies that are directed against peptides and proteins that are citrullinated. They are present in the majority of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Clinically, cyclic citrullinated peptides (CCP) are frequently used to detect these antibodies in patient serum or plasma.

Michael D. Lockshin is an American professor and medical researcher. He is a researcher of autoimmune diseases, with focus on antiphospholipid syndrome and lupus. He is currently professor of medicine and obstetrics-gynecology at the Weill-Cornell University Medical College in New York City. In addition, he is director of the Barbara Volcker Center for Women and Rheumatic Disease and co-director of the Mary Kirkland Center for Lupus Research, both at the Hospital for Special Surgery

Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) is a type of U.S. federal grant administered by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health. The CTSA program began in October 2006 under the auspices of the National Center for Research Resources with a consortium of 12 academic health centers. The program was fully implemented in 2012, comprising 60 grantee institutions and their partners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steffanie A. Strathdee</span> Canadian epidemiologist

Steffanie A. Strathdee is the Associate Dean of Global Health Sciences, Harold Simon Professor at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Co-Director at the Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics. She has been awarded more than US$64 million in federal research grants as a principal investigator. She is known for her work on HIV research and prevention programmes in Tijuana.

Matthew H. Liang is a physician specializing in social rheumatology, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Professor of Health Policy and Management at Harvard School of Public Health, and the Director of Special Projects of the Robert B. Brigham Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases Clinical Research Center which he founded. At the Brigham and Women's Hospital he is Medical Director of Rehabilitation Services. He is a founding faculty of the Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and a founding faculty of the Clinical Effectiveness Program at the Harvard School of Public Health and is a Study Director in the Veterans Administration Cooperative Studies Program.

Fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) represent a specialised cell type located inside joints in the synovium. These cells play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.

The Rheumatoid Arthritis Quality of Life Questionnaire (RAQoL) is a disease-specific patient-reported outcome measure which determines the effect rheumatoid arthritis has on a patient’s quality of life. The RAQoL has 30 items with a yes and no response format and takes about six minutes to complete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UC San Diego Medical Center, Hillcrest</span> Hospital in California, United States

The UC San Diego Medical Center, Hillcrest is one of two medical centers of UC San Diego Health and is a teaching hospital for the University of California San Diego School of Medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upadacitinib</span> Chemical compound (medication)

Upadacitinib, sold under the brand name Rinvoq, is a Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor medication for the treatment of moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis in adults where methotrexate did not work well or could not be tolerated. It was approved for medical use in the United States and in the European Union in 2019, and was developed by the biotech company AbbVie.

Paul-Peter Tak is an immunologist and academic specialising in the fields of rheumatology and immunology. In addition to academic research, he served as an executive of several pharmaceutical companies.

Lewis Lund Judd was an American neurobiologist and psychiatrist. He served as director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) from 1988 to 1992, chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego from 1977 to 2013, and as a vice president of the American Psychiatric Association. As NIMH director he helped develop the "Decade of the Brain", a research plan designed "to bring a precise and detailed understanding of all the elements of brain function within our own lifetime."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David M. Smith (virologist)</span> American translational research virologist

David "Davey" M. Smith, is an American translational research virologist, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at the University of California San Diego, Co-Director of the San Diego Center for AIDS Research, and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Medicine at UC San Diego. His research interests include transmission, prevention, and treatment of both HIV and SARS-CoV2 (COVID-19). Since joining the UC San Diego faculty in 2003, Smith has been awarded more than $37 million in federal funding as a Principal Investigator. His research interests include transmission, prevention, and treatment of both HIV and COVID-19.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindsey A. Criswell</span> American physician

Lindsey A. Criswell is an American rheumatologist and physician-scientist. She is director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. Criswell was vice chancellor of research at University of California, San Francisco where she held the Jean S. Engleman Distinguished Professorship in Rheumatology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert H. Carter</span>

Robert H. Carter is an American rheumatologist and physician-scientist serving as the deputy director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) since 2008. He was the acting director of NIAMS from December 2018 until February 2021.

References

  1. ↑ "UC San Diego Receives Major Clinical and Translational Science Award". UC Health - UC San Diego. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  2. ↑ "$52M NIH Grant Advances Clinical and Translational Research at UC San Diego". UC Health - UC San Diego. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  3. ↑ "Gary S. Firestein, MD | UC San Diego Health". providers.ucsd.edu. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  4. ↑ "Roche to Buy U.S. Cancer-Drug Maker Ignyta for $1.7 Billion". Bloomberg.com. 2017-12-22. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  5. ↑ "FDA approves entrectinib for NTRK solid tumors and ROS-1 NSCLC". fda.gov. 2019-08-16. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  6. ↑ "UC program to accelerate translational research | UC Health". health.universityofcalifornia.edu. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  7. ↑ "Gary Firestein Named Chair of UC BRAID". actri.ucsd.edu. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  8. ↑ "$55M NIH Grant Advances Clinical and Translational Research at UC San Diego". UC Health - UC San Diego. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  9. ↑ Nygaard, Gyrid; Firestein, Gary S. (2020). "Restoring synovial homeostasis in rheumatoid arthritis by targeting fibroblast-like synoviocytes". Nature Reviews Rheumatology. 16 (6): 316–333. doi:10.1038/s41584-020-0413-5. PMC   7987137 . PMID   32393826. S2CID   218573182.
  10. ↑ Hammaker, Deepa; Firestein, Gary S. (March 2018). "Epigenetics of inflammatory arthritis". Current Opinion in Rheumatology. 30 (2): 188–196. doi:10.1097/BOR.0000000000000471. ISSN   1531-6963. PMC   5804499 . PMID   29194108.
  11. ↑ "Epigenetics Alters Genes in Rheumatoid Arthritis". UC Health - UC San Diego. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  12. ↑ Maeshima, Keisuke; Stanford, Stephanie M.; Hammaker, Deepa; Sacchetti, Cristiano; Zeng, Li-fan; Ai, Rizi; Zhang, Vida; Boyle, David L.; Muench, German R. Aleman (2016-05-19). "Abnormal PTPN11 enhancer methylation promotes rheumatoid arthritis fibroblast-like synoviocyte aggressiveness and joint inflammation". JCI Insight. 1 (7). doi:10.1172/jci.insight.86580. ISSN   0021-9738. PMC   4889026 . PMID   27275015.
  13. ↑ "Gary Firestein | UCSD Profiles". profiles.ucsd.edu. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  14. ↑ Ai, R; Laragione, T; Hammaker, D; Boyle, DL; Wildberg, A; Maeshima, K; Palescandolo, E; Krishna, V; Pocalyko, D; Whitaker, JW; Bai, Y; Nagpal, S; Bachman, KE; Ainsworth, RI; Wang, M; Ding, B; Gulko, PS; Wang, W; Firestein, GS (2018). "Comprehensive epigenetic landscape of rheumatoid arthritis fibroblast-like syncoviocytes". Nat Commun. 9 (1): 1921. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-04310-9. PMC   5953939 . PMID   29765031.
  15. ↑ "Three UC San Diego Researchers Receive Top National Awards". UC Health - UC San Diego. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  16. ↑ "UCSD's Gary Firestein Receives Jane Wyman Humanitarian Award". UC Health - UC San Diego. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  17. ↑ "Six UC San Diego Experts Elected AAAS Fellows in 2021". ucsdnews.ucsd.edu. Retrieved 2022-01-27.
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