Rebecca S. Bahn is the Professor Emeritus of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. She received her medical degree from Mayo Clinic College of Medicine followed by residency in internal medicine, training in endocrinology, and fellowship in immunology/endocrinology from Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.

Currently, Dr. Bahn is the Director of Women’s Health Research Center, and Associate Dean of Research for Career Development at Mayo Clinic. She studies the causes of Graves’ ophthalmopathy (GO), Graves’ hyperthyroidism and other autoimmune thyroid diseases. The long-term goal of her laboratory team is to develop effective new therapies for the treatment and prevention of these conditions.

Dr. Bahn’s laboratory is interested in the mechanisms and consequences of immune system activation of fibroblasts from behind the eye, the target cells involved in GO. Her team is studying the unique features of these cells that render them particularly susceptible to autoimmune attack. Dr. Bahn’s research is funded by the National Institutes of Health and Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Bahn’s research into the causes of GO and Graves’ hyperthyroidism has led to a clinical trial of rituximab as a new therapy for GO. If this medication is proven effective in the treatment of Graves’ ophthalmopathy, it will likely become a mainstay of therapy for this difficult-to-treat condition.

Representative Publications:

Clinical Experience With Rituximab and Intravenous Immunoglobulin for Pretibial Myxedema: A Case Series

Comparative Effectiveness of Treatment Choices for Graves’ Hyperthyroidism: A Historical Cohort Study

Riedel’s Thyroiditis Association With IgG4-Related Disease

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