Dr. Pisetsky received his BA from Harvard College magna cum laude in 1967 and his PhD and MD degrees from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1972 and 1973. He was then an intern and resident in Internal Medicine at the Yale-New Haven Hospital from 1973-1975. From 1975-1978, he was a clinical associate at the National Cancer Institute. He joined the faculty of the Duke University Medical Center in 1978 and served as Chief of Rheumatology and Immunology at Duke from 1996-2007.

Dr. Pisetsky has conducted basic and translational research in the field of autoimmunity, focusing on the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and the immunological properties of nuclear macromolecules, including DNA. These studies have provided new insights into the translocation of nuclear molecules during cell activation and cell death and the mechanisms by which cell death can influence innate immunity.

Dr. Pisetsky has had grant funding from the NIH, Veterans Administration and foundations. He has published over 400 articles, reviews and chapters and has edited several textbooks and volumes. From 2000-2005, he served as Editor of Arthritis and Rheumatism and, from 2006-2011, he was the first Physician Editor of The Rheumatologist.