Internal Medicine Faculty Elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation

February 9, 2022

Three faculty members from the Department of Internal Medicine were elected into the distinguished American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) for 2022. Founded in 1908, the ASCI is one of the nation’s oldest and most respected nonprofit medical honor societies and is a key organization focused on the special role of physician-scientists in research, clinical care, and medical education.

New members will be formally recognized and inducted on Friday, April 8 at the ASCI Dinner and New Member Induction Ceremony, as part of the 2022 AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting taking place April 8–10.

Congratulations to the newly elected members!

Grace Chen, MD, PhD

Grace Chen, MD, PhD

Grace Chen, MD, PhD is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology.

Dr. Chen’s main research focus is understanding host-microbial interactions that modulate colorectal cancer risk. Work from her laboratory demonstrated the importance of the gut microbiota and innate immune receptor signaling in affecting colorectal cancer susceptibility. Dr. Chen's lab is currently involved in multiple collaborative projects to investigate the impact of diets and their bioactives on the development of inflammation and cancer in the colon, the effect of specific gut bacteria on the development of colon cancer and rectal cancer treatment, the mechanism by which innate immune receptors regulate intestinal homeostasis, and the role of specific circulating RNA fragments in colorectal cancer progression.

Jason Knight, MD, PhD

Jason Knight, MD, PhD

Jason Knight, MD, PhD is the Marvin and Betty Danto Research Professor of Connective Tissue Research and Associate Professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology.

Dr. Knight’s main research focus is exploring the role that neutrophils and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) play in patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). His lab examines blood samples from patients with APS in pursuit of identifying the subset of patients with this and other blood-clotting diseases who can be treated not with lifelong anticoagulants, but rather agents that modulate the immune system. Dr. Knight’s group is also investigating neutrophils and NETs in lupus, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and most recently, COVID-19.

Rachel Zemans, MD

Rachel Zemans, MD

Rachel Zemans, MD is a Professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine.

Dr. Zemans’ research is focused on understanding the mechanisms by which the lung epithelium is injured and regenerates after injury and how these mechanisms go awry in the pathogenesis of lung diseases such as ARDS and pulmonary fibrosis. Her lab has identified novel mechanisms underlying alveolar epithelial cell proliferation and differentiation during regeneration. Dr. Zeman identified a transitional cell state that emerges transiently during normal regeneration and found that this transitional state persists with ineffectual differentiation in pulmonary fibrosis.