Clinical Interests
Dr. Rubenstein is the Robert C. Strunk Endowed Chair for Lung and Respiratory Research and Chief of the Division of Allergy and Pulmonary Medicine, having moved to Washington University in St. Louis in 2020. He received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and medical degree and PhD in pharmacology from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. He subsequently completed a residency in Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and a Fellowship in Pediatric Pulmonology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he became an Instructor in Pediatrics. He then moved to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania where he Directed the Cystic Fibrosis Center, held the Richard B. Johnston, Jr. Endowed Chair in Pediatrics, and rose to the rank of Professor of Pediatrics with tenure. Dr. Rubenstein’s research is focused on understanding the mechanisms by which small molecules can repair the dysfunction of the most common Cystic Fibrosis-causing CFTR mutation, F508del. Through this work, he has become increasingly interested in the role of a novel chaperone of the endoplasmic reticulum, ERp29, in the biogenesis of proteins relevant to Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and other pulmonary diseases. This work has been supported by grants from the NIH, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation including a LeRoy Matthews Physician Scientist Award, and an Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Association. He has also developed NIH- and CF Foundation-funded collaborative clinical and translational research projects focusing on CF-related diabetes, ototoxicity of aminoglycoside antibiotics in CF, and animal assisted therapy in the hospital setting, as well as participated in numerous multicenter clinical trials leading to the approval of novel therapies for CF. Dr. Rubenstein is a recognized expert in the care of people with Cystic Fibrosis, and serves as Chair of the CF Foundation Clinical Research Committee as well as a member of the CF Foundation Medical Advisory Council.