Terri Finkel, MD, PhD

Her research in immunology and its clinical applications, as well as the inspiration she provides to women entering the field of medicine, bring Dr. Terri Finkel international recognition. Dr. Finkel has been a National Institutes of Health-funded investigator since 1990, studying mechanisms of inherited and acquired immune dysregulation in autoimmune and infectious disease, recognized by over 200 publications (including paradigm-changing papers in Nature and Nature Medicine), 10 U.S. patents, and 4 licensed technologies. She has lectured widely nationally and internationally including at the NIH, Institutes of Medicine, Imperial College of London, and Institute Pasteur. She has served on the board of directors of One Day the Family AIDS Project, on the advisory board for University of Central Florida College of Engineering & Management Systems, and is a Director of the UCF Research Foundation Board. In 2000, Dr. Finkel was a founding member of CARRA, the Childhood Arthritis Research and Rheumatology Alliance which has led the U.S. in driving clinical research in pediatric rheumatology. Dr. Finkel has been named amongst America’s Top Doctors by Castle Connolly every year since 2011, and within the top one percent of pediatric rheumatologists by U.S. News & World Report. In 2014, her biography was read in the U.S. House of Representatives and entered in the Congressional Record in honor of her leadership and contributions to healthcare.

Dr. Finkel received her MD and PhD degrees from Stanford University. After completing pediatric internship and residency at Harvard University and the University of Colorado, she did specialty training in pediatric rheumatology at National Jewish Health and Children’s Hospital Colorado, and was promoted to assistant, then associate professor of pediatrics, immunology, and biochemistry & molecular genetics. In these roles, Dr. Finkel enhanced our knowledge of autoimmunity, HIV/AIDS, lupus, and cancer, and was internationally recognized for her groundbreaking research on T-cells and HIV, receiving awards from, amongst others, the American Cancer Society, American College of Rheumatology, American Foundation for AIDS Research, Gates Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and in 2020, from Google Arts and Culture as an Innovator in Health Care.

From 1999-2011, Dr. Finkel led the division of rheumatology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as the Joseph Lee Hollander Endowed Chair of Pediatric Rheumatology and tenured professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2011, she was recruited to Nemours Children’s Hospital as pediatrician-in-chief, chair of pediatrics, and chief scientific officer. There, she led the build of a successful research enterprise across 5 institutions, with external grant revenue totaling over $20 million, bringing precision medicine to children with cancer, heart disease, immune and neuromuscular disorders. In March 2020, Dr. Finkel was recruited as the Children’s Foundation of Memphis Endowed Chair and tenured professor of pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where she leads national and international research efforts on use of big data, genomics, and artificial intelligence to address the causes and cures of rare diseases afflicting children and families world-wide.