Criswell was vice chancellor of research at University of California, San Francisco where she held the Jean S. Engleman Distinguished Professorship in Rheumatology.

Starting in 1994, Criswell was a principal investigator on multiple NIH grants and published more than 250 peer-reviewed journal papers.

Her research focused on the genetics and epidemiology of human autoimmune disease, particularly rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus.

Using genome-wide association and other genetic studies, her research team contributed to the identification of more than 30 genes linked to these disorders.

[2] Criswell won a Henry Kunkel Young Investigator Award from the American College of Rheumatology.