Marcela Ferrada, M.D., earned her medical degree at the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia. When she came to the United States, she completed her internal medicine residency at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, where she also spent one year as chief resident. She completed a dual fellowship in critical care medicine at the National Institutes of Health and in infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins Hospital. 

In 2015, Dr. Ferrada was diagnosed with relapsing polychondritis, a rare autoimmune rheumatic disorder, and changed her career focus to studying the condition. She completed a rheumatology fellowship at the NIH’s National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. 

Dr. Ferrada is board certified in internal medicine, critical care, infectious diseases, and rheumatology. She is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha honor medical society at the University of Miami. She is the recipient of several awards, including the Distinguished Fellow Award from the American College of Rheumatology in 2018, the Outstanding Research Award from the Rheumatism Society of the District of Columbia in 2018, the Lawrence Shulman Scholar Award in 2019, and the NIH Director's Award in 2021.  

Dr. Ferrada has been pivotal in recruiting and evaluating patients on the first available prospective cohort of patients with relapsing polychondritis at NIH and has become a world leader in the field. She has given several grand rounds in academic institutions and international meetings about relapsing polychondritis.