He received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard Medical School, then completed his Internal Medicine residency and Nephrology fellowship at Boston Medical Center. Dr. Beck joined the laboratory of David Salant as a renal research fellow, where he worked on identifying the long-sought target antigen in the human glomerular disease membranous nephropathy. His work led to the ultimate identification of the major target antigen PLA2R (phospholipase A2 receptor) in 2009, and a minor target antigen THSD7A (thrombospondin type-1 domain-containing 7A) in 2014. These discoveries have led to a new era in the diagnosis, prognosis, and disease monitoring in membranous nephropathy, as it is now possible to follow the immunologic course of disease, which precedes and predicts the clinical course.