Dr. Paul A. Insel was born in New York City and grew up in Dayton, Ohio and near Washington, DC. He attended George Washington University for two years and then the University of Michigan Medical School, from which he graduated cum laude, receiving his MD in 1968. After completing his internship and residency on the Harvard Medical Service at Boston City Hospital, he entered the United States Public Health Service at the National Institutes of Health for 4 years, during which time he also worked as an Attending Physician at Baltimore City Hospitals' Endocrine Unit and as an Assistant in Medicine at Johns Hopkins University.
In 1974, he began research training at the University of California, San Francisco's (UCSF) Department of Medicine/Clinical Pharmacology Division and Cardiovascular Research Institute, serving as an Assistant Professor in Residence at UCSF before moving in 1978 to the Division of Pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He has been Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at UCSD since 1987 and since 1989, Director of the Medical Scientist (MD/PhD) Training Program. Dr. Insel was the Founding President of the National Organization of MD-PhD Training Directors. He has also served as Chair of Step 1 of the USMLE, the national licensing examination for US physicians. He has received a Doc. Hon. Causa from the University of Paris and been elected as Fellow, American Association for Advancement of Science and to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and Association of American Physicians. Dr. Insel has served on numerous editorial boards, as Associate Editor of several journals and Editor-in-Chief of Molecular Pharmacology and co-Chief Editor of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. From 1996-2008, Dr. Insel was an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Physiology – Cell Physiology.
Dr. Insel’s research emphasizes signal transduction by G-protein-coupled receptors and has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, National Institutes of Health, Ellison Medical Foundation and other agencies. He is the author of over 200 original articles and over 100 reviews and book chapters.