Estefania Quesada-Masachs, M.D., Ph.D.

Roles

• Biography

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  Dr. Quesada-Masachs received her MD degree at University of Barcelona (UB). She completed the residency in Rheumatology and a 2-year training program in Pediatric Rheumatology at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital (Spain), where she worked as a consultant until early 2018. She did a fellowship at Istituto Giannina Gaslini (Italy), Center of Excellence in Pediatric Rheumatology according to the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR). Dr Quesada-Masachs completed her PhD in Pediatric Rheumatology at Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) with a cum laude and the mention as an international doctor. Her PhD thesis was focused on identifying immunological differences in relation to age and treatment in patients with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. Following her PhD, she joined Prof. von Herrath’s lab, at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (California) as a post-doctoral fellow, where she focused on studying the role that different immune cells, cytokines and other signaling molecules play in disease initiation and progression in autoimmune type 1 diabetes. During that time, she contributed to solve a long-standing controversy in the type 1 diabetes (T1D) field, demonstrating that beta cells can upregulate HLA class II expression in T1D and in vitro after receiving inflammatory stimulus. Following her appointment as an instructor at la Jolla Institute for Immunology, Dr Quesada-Masachs was awarded with an R01. In her position at the Diabetes Research Institute and the University of Miami she investigates the pathogenesis and mechanisms causing autoimmune diseases. To date, Dr Quesada-Masachs has published manuscripts in top tier journals, has been invited to present her work at national and international meetings and conferences and has been acknowledged for her work. For example, in 2023, Dr. Quesada-Masachs was recognized by the Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes (nPOD) with the Young Investigator of the Year Award.

• Teaching Interests

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  Dr. Quesada Masachs has a strong interest in training the next generation of scientists and has served as a research mentor to Undergraduate students, masters students, medical students, and PhD students.

• Research Interests

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  Dr. Quesada-Masachs has a multidisciplinary background. Her research interests are in the area of autoimmune diseases, where she investigates their pathogenesis and mechanisms with the objective to ultimately contribute to their prevention and cure. She is particularly interested in studying autoimmune diseases that typically start in childhood and younger individuals, such as type 1 diabetes and juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and also in gaining further insights in other autoimmune and/or chronic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and osteoarthritis. In her NIH funded work, she is focused on identifying the role of T cells, macrophages and HLA class I and class II molecules in type 1 diabetes initiation and progression. In her studies, she uses state of the art microscopy technology and software to obtain and analyze high resolution images from human pancreatic tissues and 3D islet and organoid structures. In another related area of her research, she is applying this cutting-edge technology to investigate human synovial tissue of patients affected by chronic inflammatory arthritis.