- Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine (Rheumatology), Yale School of Medicine, Yale University
- Chief, Section of Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University
- Professor, Department of Pathology, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University
- Professor, Department of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases), Yale School of Medicine, Yale University
Dr. Richard Bucala is the Waldemar von Zedtwitz Professor of Medicine, Pathology, and Epidemiology & Public Health, and Chief of the Section of Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology at Yale School of Medicine. He has devoted his career to investigating how the immune system transitions from a protective response to one that produces autoimmunity and disease.
Dr. Bucala is credited with cloning the cytokine macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) and uncovering its unique role as a neuroendocrine regulator of glucocorticoid immunosuppression. His laboratory’s investigations have encompassed MIF structure-function, signal transduction, and genetics, with follow-on discoveries of the MIF receptor (CD74), the MIF ortholog DDT (MIF2), and functional MIF promoter polymorphisms with pathogenic roles in autoimmune and infectious conditions. His laboratory developed the first MIF antagonists, including the anti-MIF antibody Imalumab, which successfully completed phase II testing and continues in development for autoimmunity and oncology. His group also contributed to the success of anti-MIF receptor therapy Milatuzumab, which received FDA approval for B cell malignancies. Seminal studies of parasite-encoded MIF orthologs defined their role in immune evasion, with a parasite MIF vaccine currently undergoing testing for malaria.
In separate work, the Bucala group discovered the circulating fibrocyte, leading to an anti-fibrocyte therapy for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and myelofibrosis that reached phase III clinical testing. Dr. Bucala has published over 600 peer-reviewed papers with an H-index of 155 and is an inventor on more than 50 issued patents.