Dr. Tabas received his medical degree and his doctorate in biochemistry from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He then completed an internship and residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. During that period, Dr. Tabas also conducted a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Alan Tall in the Department of Medicine at Columbia University. He joined the Columbia faculty in 1985 and is currently the Richard J. Stock Professor and Vice-Chair of Research in the Department of Medicine and Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology (in Physiology and Cellular Biophysics).

Dr. Tabas' honor include the American Heart Association Established Investigator Award, the Columbia University Doctor Harold and Golden Lamport Research Award, the American Heart Association/ATVB Council Special Recognition Award, the Richard J. Stock Professorship in the Department of Medicine of Columbia University, and the 2011 Alumni Achievement Award from Washington University School of Medicine. He was elected to both the Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians.