Dr Mary Crow

Biography

Mary K. Crow, M.D., is Physician-in-Chief Emeritus at Hospital for Special Surgery, Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, and Professor of Immunology in its Graduate School of Medical Sciences. Dr. Crow is also Senior Scientist, Co-Director of the Mary Kirkland Center for Lupus Research, and Director of the Autoimmunity and Inflammation Program at Hospital for Special Surgery's Research Institute where she holds the Benjamin M. Rosen Chair in Immunology and Inflammation Research. Dr. Crow received her M.D. from Cornell University Medical College, Internal Medicine and Rheumatology subspecialty training at New York Hospital and Hospital for Special Surgery, and post-doctoral research training at Rockefeller University. The overall goal of Dr. Crow's research program is to elucidate the underlying mechanisms that account for initiation and amplification of altered immune function and tissue damage in systemic autoimmune diseases, with a particular focus on the prototype systemic autoimmune diseases, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis. Dr. Crow identified the type I interferon (IFN) pathway as central to the pathogenesis of SLE, and she continues to investigate the cellular and cytokine mediators of immune system activation and inflammation in those disorders. Current interests include the role of endogenous RNA, including genomic retroelements, in IFN pathway activation in systemic autoimmune diseases, along with the role of Toll-like receptor (TLR)-dependent and TLR-independent pathways in innate immune system activation in those disorders. She is also investigating the immune mechanisms that are associated with development of lupus nephritis. Dr. Crow's leadership roles have included president of the American College of Rheumatology, president of the Henry Kunkel Society, and chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Lupus Research Alliance. In 2017 Dr. Crow was named an honorary member of the European League Against Rheumatism, in 2018 she received the Presidential Gold Medal of the American College of Rheumatology in recognition of outstanding contributions to rheumatology over an entire career, and in 2022 she received the Lee C. Howley Sr. Prize for Arthritis Scientific Research from the Arthritis Foundation.