[4] He started his PhD in 1976 at the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Harvard University, working under Thomas Silhavy and Jonathan Beckwith and graduating in 1981.

[3][4] Emr began his career at the University of California, Berkeley as a Miller Institute Fellow[6] and a postdoctoral researcher at Randy Schekman's group.

[3] George Emil Palade recruited Emr to the University of California, San Diego in 1991,[4] where he stayed as a Distinguished Professor at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and, at the same time, an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

[14] ESCRTs are required for the degradation of membrane protein at the lysosome, a late step in cytokinesis, and the budding and release of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

As of 2021, their daughter Bryanna is a pediatric surgeon in Pittsburgh, and their son Kevin is an anesthesiologist in Albany, New York.