Dr. Atkinson received his A.B. degree in Chemistry from Harvard College in 1959 and his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College in 1963. Following internship and residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital, he joined the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH, and he received postdoctoral training in clinical pharmacology at the University of Cincinnati.

In 1970, Dr. Atkinson moved to Northwestern University Medical School and started the program in clinical pharmacology. At that point, the PhRMA Foundation awarded Art a Faculty Development Award to help get that program off to a good start. At Northwestern, Dr. Atkinson set up the first U.S. laboratory devoted to general therapeutic drug monitoring, and conducted a long series of ground-breaking investigations and basic research.

In 1994, Dr. Atkinson became Corporate Vice President for Clinical Development and Medical Affairs at the Upjohn Company. He later joined the Center for Drug Development Science at Georgetown University as an Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology. In 1997, he returned to NIH as a Special Expert Consultant in Clinical Pharmacology for NIGMS. The following year, he was appointed Senior Advisor in Clinical Pharmacology to the Director of the NIH Clinical Center.

Dr. Atkinson is a Master of the American College of Physicians, and has been President of the American Board of Clinical Pharmacology and President of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. He has extensive editorial board service, two books and more than 100 publications to his credit.