Gary S. Gilkeson MD

Dr. Gilkeson is a Distinguished University Professor of Medicine in the Rheumatology Division at the Medical University of South Carolina. He is Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development in the MUSC College of Medicine. He received his medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He completed his internal medicine training at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Following four years in the Air Force as a medical officer, he completed a rheumatology fellowship at Duke University Medical Center in 1989. He joined the faculty of Duke at that time prior to moving to MUSC in 1996. Dr. Gilkeson is the author of over 300 research papers. He has served on the national boards for both the Arthritis Foundation and the Lupus Foundation of America. He is past chairman of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board for the Lupus Foundation of America. He is a Master of the American College of Rheumatology. Dr. Gilkeson's research and clinical interests are in lupus, particularly lupus nephritis. His research focus in lupus is identifying the factors resulting in the ethnic disparity in outcomes in lupus comparing African Americans to Caucasians and factors predisposing women to lupus. He initiated the SLEIGH study with Dr. Diane Kamen, SLE in Gullah Health, to identify genetic and environmental factors that lead to lupus. His major focus at this time is in the use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for the treatment of lupus. MUSC is coordinating a Phase II multicenter double blind placebo controlled trial of MSCs in refractory lupus.