Richard M. Siegel, MD, PhD
Photo: Richard M. Siegel

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Elected 2007
Richard Siegel’s interest in immunology and apoptosis began as an M.D./Ph.D. student at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He trained in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology at Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and then moved to the NIH to do postdoctoral training, where he studied patients with inherited mutations in Fas/CD95 and how these disrupt lymphocyte apoptosis in the Autoimmune Lymphoproliferative Syndrome (ALPS) in the laboratory of Michael Lenardo. In 2001, Dr. Siegel moved to the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal Diseases and Skin (NIAMS) at the NIH as a Principal Investigator, where he also attends on the Rheumatology service at the NIH clinical center. Dr. Siegel has made multiple, influential contributions in the area of TNF-receptor family signaling important for our understanding of immunological and inflammatory diseases. He has defined a self-assembly domain (PLAD) in these receptors that controls signaling before receptor ligation. More recently, his laboratory has identified a new molecular mechanism for inflammation in patients with TNF-Receptor-1 mutations associated with periodic fever syndromes driven by receptor misfolding and retention in the endoplasmic reticulum. His current research interests include regulation of cellular survival and death in the immune system by TNF family receptors, and the manipulation of these signaling pathways to treat autoimmune diseases. He is also committed to advance the training of future physcian-scientists, and established and directed a partnership training program that allows M.D./Ph.D. students to do some or all of their research training at the NIH.