S. Louis Bridges Jr, MD, PhD

Dr. Bridges is Physician-in-Chief and Chair of the Department of Medicine at Hospital for Special Surgery, as well as Chief of the Division of Rheumatology at both HSS and NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He is the Franchellie M. Cadwell Professor of Medicine at HSS and the Joseph P. Routh Professor of Rheumatic Diseases in Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. 

Dr. Bridges leads 75 full-time physicians, including 38 adult and 5 pediatric rheumatologists. They collectively provide outstanding care to patients across the full spectrum of autoimmune and inflammatory rheumatic diseases and deliver perioperative medical care to patients undergoing surgical procedures at HSS. 

Dr. Bridges’ academic and research career has centered on understanding the cellular, molecular, and genetic molecular mechanisms that underlie rheumatoid arthritis, its clinical manifestations, and response to treatment. In particular, he has focused on the role of B lymphocytes and autoantibodies in RA, as well as genetic influences on RA in African Americans. He and his colleagues have defined genetic differences in the MHC and non-MHC genes on susceptibility to RA and on the degree of joint damage between African Americans with RA compared to European and Asian ancestries. More recently, his research program has involved crowdsourcing to facilitate machine learning and big data approaches to answer important clinical questions in RA. 

In addition to his leadership roles at HSS and NYPH/WCMC, Dr. Bridges is President of the Rheumatology Research Foundation and has a concurrent role as a member of the American College of Rheumatology Executive Committee.