The American Association of Immunologists

Arthur Weiss, M.D., Ph.D.

Brief Bio

Arthur Weiss is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and Ephraim P. Engelman Distinguished Professor of Rheumatology at the University of California, San Francisco, where he is also a professor in the Departments of Medicine and Microbiology and Immunology, chief of the Division of Rheumatology, and director of the Medical Scientist Training Program. Dr. Weiss was president of The American Association of Immunologists from 2008 to 2009 and served on the AAI Council from 2003 to 2010. He was awarded the AAI Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012, the AAI-Life Technologies Meritorious Career Award in 2002, and the AAI-BD Biosciences Investigator Award in 1993. Dr. Weiss was elected a Distinguished Fellow of AAI in 2019.

Oral History - Full Interview

Interview Date: Saturday, May 5, 2012
Location: Boston, MA

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Oral History - Transcript

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Oral History - Clips

Family Background (3:37)
Medical School and Work with Frank Fitch (3:46)
Decision to Study Rheumatology and Immunology (2:37)
Career Highlights (5:05)
Disappointments and Dead Ends (2:56)
M.D. vs. Ph.D. (1:12)
Working with Postdocs (1:45)

Importance of AAI to Career (1:59)
AAI Presidency (1:32)
Development of Asthma Foundation (5:11)
Advice for Trainees (0:35)
Future of Immunology (1:58)
Balancing Professional and Family Life (2:04)
What Do You Do for Fun? (0:57)

AAI Service History

Joined: 1981
President: 2008–2009
Vice President: 2007–2008
Councillor: 2003–2007

The Journal of Immunology
Associate Editor: 1987–1991

Committees
Nominating Committee: 1993–1994, 1997–1998
Program Committee: 1993–1996
Liaison Committee with Research Granting Agencies:, 1996–1998
Committee on Public Affairs: 1998–1999 (ad hoc member)

Other Service
IUIS Delegate: 2010–2011

President's Address

"TCR Signal Transduction: Opening the Black Box," Delivered May 8, 2009

The Journal of Immunology 183, no. 8 (2009): 4821–27.

President's Message

"AAI President’s Message," August 2008

AAI Newsletter (August/September 2008), 2–3.

Awards and Honors

AAI-PharMingen Investigator Award (now the AAI-BD Biosciences Investigator Award), 1993
AAI-Thermo Fisher Meritorious Career Award, 2001
Member, National Academy of Sciences, 2004
Member, Institute of Medicine, 2004
Lifetime Achievement Award, AAI, 2012
UCSF Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award, 2012
Distinguished Fellow, AAI, 2019

Institutional/Biographical Links

University of California, San Francisco profile
UCSF Cancer Center profile
HHMI Investigator profile