Dr. Gary Firestein is presently Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology and Dean of Translational Medicine at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine. Dr. Firestein received his AB degree summa cum laude from Harvard College in 1976, and subsequently received his MD degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1980. After training in Internal Medicine at UCLA, he began his rheumatology fellowship at UCSD in 1983. In 1988, he joined the faculty at UCSD School of Medicine as Assistant Professor of Medicine. Four years later, Dr. Firestein was hired by Gensia, Inc., as Director of Immunology. In 1996, he was recruited back to UCSD as Professor of Medicine and, in 1998, was named Chief of the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology. In 2003, Dr. Firestein was also selected to serve as the founding director of the UCSD Clinical Investigation Institute.

Dr. Firestein's research interest at UCSD has focused on the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis. Dr. Firestein received the prestigious Carol-Nachman Prize, which is an international award given for rheumatology research, in 1998 and the Lee C. Howley Prize in rheumatology in 2006, which is the highest honor awarded by the Arthritis Foundation.

Dr. Firestein has written over 225 articles and chapters and has edited or written 4 books, including Kelley's Textbook of Rheumatology. He served as the Deputy Editor of Arthritis & Rheumatism and has sat on the editorial boards of many other journals. He is also past Chairman of the FDA Arthritis Advisory Committee.