Allen Caruthers Steere is a distinguished rheumatologist and internationally recognized authority in the field of vector-borne diseases. He currently serves as Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and faculty member in the Rheumatology Division at Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases. After graduating from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1969, he completed his rheumatology fellowship at Yale University where he first encountered the cluster of arthritis cases that would lead to the discovery of Lyme disease. Dr. Steere's career has spanned multiple prestigious institutions including Yale University where he was a faculty member from 1977 to 1987, Tufts University Medical Center where he served as Chief of the Rheumatology Division from 1988 to 2002, and Massachusetts General Hospital where he has been a faculty member since 2003.
Dr. Steere's groundbreaking work in identifying and characterizing Lyme disease represents one of the most significant medical discoveries of the late 20th century. In 1975, he investigated a cluster of children with arthritis-like symptoms in Lyme, Connecticut, which he and his mentor Stephen Malawista recognized as a previously undescribed tick-borne illness. His seminal 1977 paper in Arthritis and Rheumatism documented this new epidemic disease, establishing the clinical features, epidemiology, and eventual understanding of its bacterial cause. Over his more than 40 years of research on Lyme disease, Dr. Steere has published nearly 300 scholarly articles that have fundamentally shaped the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of this infection, including the development of diagnostic tests, evaluation of treatment regimens, and investigation of pathogenic mechanisms.
Beyond his research contributions, Dr. Steere has been instrumental in training generations of rheumatologists and infectious disease specialists who continue to advance the understanding of vector-borne illnesses. His laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital continues to investigate the immunological mechanisms underlying Lyme arthritis, particularly the role of HLA-DR-peptide epitopes and molecular mimicry in persistent joint inflammation. Dr. Steere's work bridges clinical observation with fundamental immunological research, maintaining his position at the forefront of translational medicine. With ongoing NIH-funded research projects examining cellular and humoral immunity in Lyme arthritis, his laboratory continues to pursue transformative insights that may lead to improved diagnostics and therapeutic approaches for patients suffering from this complex condition.
