Rick Bucala, MD, PhD, has been appointed chief of the Department of Internal Medicine’s Section of Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology.
Bucala joined the faculty at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) in 2002 and has appointments in internal medicine, pathology, and in epidemiology & public health. He studies immune system regulation with a focus on how protective responses can lead to immunopathology and disease. He is credited with cloning the cytokine MIF and discovery of the fibrocyte, a circulating connective tissue cell that contributes to fibrosing disorders.
He attends on the rheumatology consult service at Yale New Haven Hospital and teaches at the Schools of Medicine and Public Health, and at Yale College on the topics of inflammation, autoimmunity, immunotherapy, and malaria.
Bucala was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. He is the editor-in-chief of the American College of Rheumatology’s primary publication Arthritis & Rheumatology. He has received numerous honors throughout his career. Most recently, he was chosen to speak at the Jack A. Elias Advances in Biomedical Sciences Lectureship in 2018. He received his BS/MS degrees from Yale University in 1979, his PhD from Rockefeller University in 1985, and his MD from Cornell Medical College in 1986. Bucala completed his residency in internal medicine at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital and rheumatology fellowship training at the Hospital for Special Surgery.
The department extends its gratitude to Insoo Kang, MD, for his dedication and leadership as interim section chief over the past year.
The Section of Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology is one of the eleven academic sections within YSM’s Department of Internal Medicine. To learn more about its work, visit Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology.