After attending Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, I completed medical training at the University of Minnesota and postdoctoral training in Rheumatology at the University of Washington. Since 1999, I have been an investigator at the Benaroya Research Institute, and am now in the position of President of the Institute and Director of the Translational Research Program. Additionally, I am an affiliate professor at the University of Washington. My laboratory is focused on identifying the underlying mechanisms by which regulation of the adaptive immune response fails or is overcome in the setting of autoimmunity. The diseases studied in my laboratory include diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus and relapsing polychondritis.

I serve as a lead investigator for an immune system health initiative in partnership with the Allen Institute for Immunology, a new research endeavor funded by the late Paul Allen to lay the groundwork for better ways to diagnose, treat and prevent immune-related disorders.