Dr. Jane Buckner is the President of Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) as well as Director of its Translational Research Program. She is also a rheumatologist at Virginia Mason as well as an Affiliate Professor of Rheumatology at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr. Buckner’s research interests are in understanding how the immune system is regulated, and why in autoimmune diseases regulation of the immune system fails, resulting in damage of healthy tissues. The diseases studied in Dr. Buckner’s laboratory include: type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, relapsing polychondritis and systemic lupus. Recent work from her lab has elucidated the role of genes associated with these diseases and alterations in the immune system that may lead to the development of disease. As an active member of the scientific community, Dr. Buckner is director of the Seattle Chapter of FOCIS Center of Excellence and serves as an advisor to Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet. Dr. Buckner has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers.