A lifetime of service, a legacy of transforming Veteran health

After 45 years with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, his groundbreaking contributions to health research and practice leaves a legacy that has transformed our understandings across the field. With unparalleled dedication to innovation and mentorship, his lifetime of service to VA will continue to inspire future generations of scientists and health care professionals. 

Dr. Grunfeld held the position of Acting Deputy Chief Research and Development Officer for IT and Data Governance in the Office of Research and Development of Veterans Health Administration. Previously he served as the Associate Chief of Staff for Research & Development and Chief of the Metabolism & Endocrine Sections at San Francisco VA Health Care System. He is also Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of California, San Francisco. 

Working as a basic scientist and clinical investigator, Dr. Grunfeld authored more than 320 peer-reviewed articles and more than 140 review articles in endocrinology, inflammation and infection. His research team demonstrated that the metabolic effects of cytokines during infection and inflammation are part of the acute phase response, blunting the progression of infection and inflammation. However, these changes also promote atherosclerosis, converting the otherwise protective HDL to particles that increase the tendency to atherosclerosis, and making LDL even more atherogenic. 

Early in the AIDS epidemic, his research unraveled why people wasted away with AIDS, showing it was due to secondary infections, such as Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia caused by the immunosuppression, not HIV itself. Those findings signaled HIV care providers to look for other infections when patients with HIV were losing weight. He pioneered medications to reverse the wasting syndrome.  He redefined the syndrome of HIV lipodystrophy and determined the cause. He also demonstrated the metabolic effects of individual anti-retroviral drugs we use to treat HIV infection. 

As a teacher and investigator, he made major contributions to training the next generation of physicians and scientists, mentoring over 55 graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty in the conduct of clinical and lab research and guiding generations of medical students, residents and fellows in the clinics and on the wards of San Francisco VA Medical Center.     

After receiving a BS in biology from Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania, Dr. Grunfeld received a PhD in pharmacology and MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He completed his internship and residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and at Harvard Medical School. He did a fellowship in Endocrinology at the National Institutes of Health. Among the honors he has received are the Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Distinguished Achievement Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in a Profession of the Alumni Association of Haverford College. Professional societies of which he is a member include the American Society for Clinical Investigation, American Diabetes Association, Endocrine Society and the American Heart Association.