Chyi-Song Hsieh, MD, PhD

Chyi-Song Hsieh, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine and of pathology and immunology, is being honored for his groundbreaking work in basic immunology research.

Hsieh, who joined the faculty in 2005, has published seminal findings explaining details of the development of the immune system’s regulatory T cells, also called Treg cells. Treg cells inhibit parts of the immune system responsible for killing cells; in the process, they protect against autoimmunity and prevent destruction of helpful organisms that live on and in the human body. Hsieh’s work opens the door to a better understanding of immune tolerance and for development of immune-based therapies. His work has been published in Nature and Nature Immunology and has received international recognition. Hsieh’s current research centers on how immune tolerance relates to the infectious process and how pathologic organisms subvert the immune system to their own advantage.

He has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and received two Burroughs Wellcome awards, the Arthritis Foundation/American College of Rheumatology Investigator Award and the Pfizer Post-doctoral Fellowship in Rheumatology. He has spoken at a number of international meetings and is an ad hoc reviewer for several major scientific journals.

Hsieh also is a successful and popular mentor; he has served as or is currently a mentor for 10 doctoral students and has provided laboratory rotations to many more. He is course master for the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences’ Molecular Mechanisms of Immunological Diseases course. In the clinical arena, he is considered an excellent role model for trainees at all levels who excels in teaching critical thinking skills.

Hsieh received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago in 1990, his medical and doctoral degrees in 1996 from Washington University, and conducted postgraduate training at the University of Washington.