Reflecting a long-standing area of investigation in immunologic and autoimmune diseases research at UAB, the Immunology, Autoimmunity and Inflammation theme has been designated as one of six strategic “pillars” of the School of Medicine strategic plan, embracing the spectrum of institutional commitment from fundamental research, translation to human biology and disease, and state of the art clinical care.  CAMAC investigators are leaders in Th17 biology, in defining the properties of autoreactive B cells and in discovering novel antibody receptors on B cells, and in demonstrating the roles of myeloid cells in inflammatory arthritis.  Integrated through the Program in Immunology, a weekly seminar series, investigators from 12 departments share both fundamental principles of immunology and its translation to clinical disease.  The newly re-organized graduate program in biomedical sciences (GBS) has designated Immunology and Autoimmunity as a major theme, and CAMAC members play a central role in the program.  A large patient population with autoimmune disease (especially RA and SLE) and with both European and African ancestries has enabled robust locally-based cohorts for study of immunological mechanisms; these cohorts have also enabled the development of national consortia to study the underlying genetic architecture of rheumatic disease, as outlined the Genetics and Functional Genomics theme.