Prof. Dr. Deborah McCurdy is a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, Los Angeles.  She is trained as a Pediatric Rheumatologist and has served children with autoimmune diseases both at large university hospitals and in county hospitals. Her training includes medical school at Hahnemann University/Drexel University School of Medicine, and she completed her internship in Pediatrics at Tulane University in New Orleans and her residency in Pediatrics at the Hospital for Sick Children.  Subsequently, she pursued fellowships in Pediatric Immunology at the Hospital for Sick Children followed by Pediatric Rheumatology at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. She is board-certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Rheumatology (1992) by the American Board of Pediatrics. Currently, she provides care for patients with autoimmune diseases, teaches and mentors medical students and residents, and conducts research at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Harbor-UCLA. She is the Fellowship coordinator for Pediatric Rheumatology. She has been active in research in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), both in determining antigens associated with lupus pathogenesis and the genetics of lupus.  Her current interest is in better understanding the drivers of inflammation and autoimmunity, cell-based therapies for autoimmune diseases, and optimizing medication regiments for those with inflammation and autoimmunity.