Dr. Robert Terkeltaub

Robert Terkeltaub, MD

Robert Terkeltaub, MD, Professor of Medicine, and also is Section Chief of Rheumatology at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in San Diego. Dr. Terkeltaub received his medical degree at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and completed McGill-based residency and training programs at Montreal General Hospital in Rheumatology and Internal Medicine. Dr. Terkeltaub has been the recipient of numerous teaching awards at the University of California at San Diego. Dr. Terkeltaub is an Associate Editor of Arthritis and Rheumatism, and serves on numerous Study Sections in arthritis and vascular biology.

About the Lab

​Dr. Terkeltaub's research has concentrated principally on inflammation and skeletal biology and the interfaces between the two. We principally study osteoarthritis, gout and CPPD crystal deposition disease, and arterial diseases pertinent to rheumatology.

Research Highlights

​Major accomplishments have included the first elucidation of the genetic and molecular etiology of the periarticular and arterial disease "Idiopathic" Infantile Arterial Calcification as NPP1 deficiency, the first linkage of the chemokines IL-8 and KC/GROalpha to macrophage recruitment in atherosclerosis, detailed elucidation of the molecular pathogenenesis of crystalline-induced joint inflammation, and a series of seminal papers describing the effects of inflammation, inorganic pyrophosphate metabolism and the nucleotide binding and nucleotide pyrophosphosphohydrolytic enzymes TG2 and NPP1, respectively on chondrogenic differentiation and calcification.