Rita Effros, Ph.D.

Rita B. Effros is an immunologist who has been at the UCLA School of Medicine since 1979. She began as a Post-doctoral Fellow in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, and then joined the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, where she became a full professor in 1992. Dr. Effros earned her B.A. in Biology from Brandeis University, and her Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Pennsylvania, under the mentorship of Peter Doherty, 1996 Nobel Laureate. Her thesis work on immunity to viruses continues to be her research focus, with special emphasis on telomeres, the regions at the ends of chromosomes which shorten during cell division. Her laboratory discovered that during aging and HIV disease many immune cells have critically short telomeres, paving the way for certain types of immunotherapy that would prevent telomere shortening. In 1998, she was awarded the UCLA Woman of Science Prize, and in 2002 she was named to the Plott Endowed Chair in Gerontology, and in 2007, she was awarded the prestigious Kleemeier Award by the Geronological Society of America. In addition to teaching medical and graduate students, she has been a major force in UCLA undergraduate education, having established an interdisciplinary Honors course on human aging. She has served on numerous university committees, most recently on the Chancellor’s Committee for Gender Equity.