Dr Wells is a practicing rheumatologist at the Aurora Rheumatology and Immunotherapy Center, Franklin, WI where he serves as the Director of the Department of Rheumatology. He is an assistant clinical professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI and maintains his clinical affiliation with Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC where he is an adjunct assistant professor. Prior to returning to private practice, Dr Wells was an associate medical director at Abbott Laboratories where he played a central role in the launch of adalimumab.

Dr Wells received his MD from the University of South Florida, Tampa, FL and trained in internal medicine and rheumatology at Duke University, Durham, NC where he was a faculty member before joining Abbott. He received his PhD in Immunology from the University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC where he developed an animal model for Reiter’s syndrome. He was a recipient of the prestigious Fogarty Biomedical Research Award from the National Institutes of Health which allowed him to undertake a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden with Dr Lars Klareskog.

Dr Wells has over 25 years of research experience focusing on chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis, with an emphasis on connective tissue components, inflammatory mediators and cytokines. He is the recipient of the 2019 Outstanding Teaching Award from the Medical College of Wisconsin and Ascension SE Wisconsin Hospital–St. Joseph Campus, Milwaukee, MI and the 2003 Abbott President’s Award. In 2001 he was honored with the Merck Young Investigator Award and in 1999 he received the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Distinguished Alumni Award. Dr Wells is fluent in Swedish and is an internationally renowned speaker and researcher.