Roberto Caricchio, MD Ex Officio Member
LuCIN Leadership

Dr. Caricchio is the Myles J. McDonough Chair in Rheumatology and Chief of the Division of Rheumatology at UMass Chan Medical School. He earned his M.D. and completed his rheumatology fellowship at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy. He completed two postdoctoral research fellowships at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. After a decade of high impact research in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), he undertook additional clinical training in internal medicine and rheumatology at Temple University to fulfill his call as physician-scientist. While in training, he continued to lead a NIH-funded laboratory focused on investigating the pathogenesis of SLE.

Before moving to UMass Chan, he directed the Temple Lupus Program in Philadelphia and provided access to a specialized program and to numerous clinical trials to indigent patients in north Philadelphia, one of the poorest areas in USA. He has since established the UMass Lupus Center, providing the local community advanced lupus care and access to clinical trials.

Dr. Caricchio has made important contributions to our understanding of the pathogenesis of SLE and is considered among the leading investigators in his field. He published seminal papers in elucidating the role of cell death as stimulator in autoimmunity, the role of sex hormones in manipulating cell death, tissue damage and the immune response, and more recently, the role of the microbiome and bacterial infections in driving autoimmune severity. His laboratory has been supported by the NIH, Arthritis Foundation, Lupus Foundation, and the Lupus Research Alliance.

Dr. Caricchio has published in Immunity, Journal of Immunology, Nature and JAMA, in addition to authoring editorials, reviews and book chapters all focused on SLE. He has been active nationally with the American College of Rheumatology as well as the Lupus Foundation of America and the Lupus Research Alliance and served on the editorial board of Arthritis and Rheumatology and Arthritis, Research and Therapy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he developed a strategic therapeutic approach for patients with COVID-19-induced cytokine storm and led international trials to prevent this lethal complication.

In his current position he is developing a number of specialized programs at UMass Chan, including the lupus program, early arthritis program and CTD-ILD program, where patients are offered innovative therapies and the opportunity to participate to breakthrough clinical trials and translational research. Dr. Caricchio continues to have an active research laboratory focused on infectious triggers of lupus and prevention of end-organ damage in lupus nephritis. He practices rheumatology, supervising rheumatology fellows and focusing on lupus comprehensive care.