Dr. Messing joined the Gallo Center as a Principal Investigator in 1986 and became Associate Director in 2000.  In this role he oversees several internal scientific functions at the Center, including the core facilities (Histology Core, Animal Care Facility, Tissue Culture Core, Transgenic Core), and space allocation.  He also serves as a member of the Gallo Center Executive Committee, participates in oversight of the Gallo Preclinical Development Program and is currently leading efforts to conduct human trials as director of the Gallo Translational Clinical Research Unit.

Dr. Messing is a Professor of Neurology and member of the Graduate Program in Neurosciences at UCSF.  He regularly attends on the neurology in-patient service and outpatient clinic at San Francisco General Hospital.  He also chairs the Medical Advisory Council of the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation, and serves as Associate Editor of the Annals of Neurology.  Dr. Messing serves on several advisory and grant review boards, including the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the Board of Directors of the Research Society on Alcoholism, and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Epilepsy Therapy Development Project.

Dr. Messing received his BA in History in 1974 and his MD in 1979, both from Stanford University.  He trained in Internal Medicine from 1979-1981 at the University of Virginia, and then in Neurology at UCSF from 1981-1984, where he served as Chief Resident from 1983-1984.  He currently holds the Endowed Chair in Neurology in Honor of the Gallo Family.