Dr. Cecilia P. Chung Appointed Chief of the Division of Rheumatology and Immunology
Cecilia P. Chung, M.D., M.P.H., has joined the University of Miami Health System and Miller School of Medicine as the newly appointed chief of the Division of Rheumatology and Immunology in the Department of Medicine.
In this role, Dr. Chung will lead the division in furthering its mission to provide the highest level of patient care in those with arthritis and rheumatic diseases, train physicians, and advance the knowledge of these diseases through research. Apart from her work at UHealth, Dr. Chung will continue her affiliation with the Veterans Health Administration by partnering with the Miami VA to provide care to veterans with rheumatic conditions and to continue her research focus on drug safety among veterans.
“After a national search, Dr. Chung emerged as the top candidate due to her deep knowledge of academic rheumatology and her experience with the tripartite mission of research, clinical care, and medical education — all factors that deeply align with the Miller School’s commitment to academic-based medicine,” said Roy E. Weiss, M.D., Ph.D., chief medical officer, ambulatory services for UHealth and chair of the Department of Medicine at the Miller School.
National Standout
Dr. Chung joins the division from Vanderbilt University, where she completed the research-oriented part of her fellowship and was recruited to join their faculty in 2012, serving most recently as a tenured associate professor of medicine. She earned her medical degree and completed her rheumatology fellowship at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in her native Peru, followed by an additional year of fellowship at the University of Alberta in Canada. Dr. Chung further holds a Master of Public Health degree from Vanderbilt University and completed her residency and a year of clinical rheumatology fellowship on the physician-scientist track at Johns Hopkins.
On the research front, Dr. Chung’s work focuses on the pharmacogenomics of immunosuppressants and the comparative safety of non-opioid analgesics. Her work has received RO1 grant support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a Merit Award from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Dr. Chung’s clinical research also involves studying cardiovascular diseases and other long-term outcomes in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis.
Dr. Chung has over 100 peer-reviewed articles and more than 120 abstracts with publications in leading journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, and Annals of Internal Medicine. She is a standing member of the NIH study section XNDA, serves as associate editor of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and won the 2022 Leon I. Goldberg Early Investigator Award from the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics and the 2022 Henry Kunkel Award from the American College of Rheumatology.
Tags: Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology and Immunology, Dr. Cecilia Chung, Dr. Roy Weiss, Miami VA, Miller School of Medicine