February 21, 2018

Paul J. (P.J.) Utz, MD, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Immunology and Rheumatology, has been appointed the School of Medicine’s Associate Dean for Medical Student Research.

Dr. Utz is a graduate of the Stanford School of Medicine, where he was a Medical Scholar in the laboratory of Jerry Crabtree. After completing his medical degree, Dr. Utz completed a short-track residency in internal medicine and rheumatology at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. He joined the Stanford faculty in 1999. Dr. Utz is an expert in the development of multiplexed assays for studying autoimmune diseases such as SLE, RA, connective tissue diseases, type 1 diabetes, and immunodeficiency disorders. His collaborative work has led to use of protein arrays in clinical trials and the development and human testing of tolerizing DNA vaccines for type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis. He is the Director of Stanford’s NIAID-funded Autoimmunity Center of Excellence, the PI of the Accelerating Medicines Partnership RA/SLE Leadership Center, and a co-PI for an NIAID influenza vaccine program.

In addition to research, Dr. Utz has been an innovator in education. In 2000, Dr. Utz founded Stanford Institutes of Medical Research (SIMR), one of the country’s largest and most respected immersive high school research programs. He has served as Associate Director, Co-Director, and Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at Stanford since 2008. Dr. Utz has won faculty teaching awards in the Department of Medicine and in the Immunology Interdepartmental Ph.D. Program. He has successfully trained over 60 scientists and 14 thesis students, and he has served on over 70 Ph.D. thesis committees.  

Dr. Utz will work closely with Dr. Dan Bernstein, the Associate Dean for Curriculum and Student Scholarship, to promote physician investigator development across the physician-scientist career continuum. Dr. Utz will continue to provide high-level oversight of SIMR and the MSTP while focusing on new efforts to create programs for M.D. students to have opportunities to build careers as investigators and leaders.