H. Clifford Lane, M.D., Deputy Director for Clinical Research

Photo of Dr. Clifford Lane

H. Clifford Lane, M.D.
NIAID Deputy Director, Clinical Research and Special Projects
Director, Division of Clinical Research

Credit: NIAID

H. Clifford Lane, M.D., serves as the NIAID Deputy Director for Clinical Research and Special Projects. Dr. Lane’s responsibilities include directing the activities of the Division of Clinical Research, which supports and coordinates both intramural and extramural research involving human volunteers.

Dr. Lane started his career at NIAID in 1979 as a clinical associate in the Laboratory of Immunoregulation (LIR). In 1985, he was appointed NIAID Deputy Clinical Director, and in 1989 he became the chief of the LIR Clinical and Molecular Retrovirology Section, a position he still holds. In 1991, Dr. Lane became clinical director of NIAID and in 2006 assumed his current position. He also functions as the NIAID liaison with the U.S. Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.

In the laboratory, Dr. Lane’s early work involved studies aimed at dissecting the normal immunoregulatory mechanisms that control the human immune response to specific antigen challenges. When the AIDS epidemic emerged, he became one of the first investigators to study immunopathogenic mechanisms of HIV disease, ultimately making seminal observations that helped establish the field of HIV immunopathogenesis.

Dr. Lane has used investigational therapeutic interventions to further the understanding of HIV pathogenesis. He pioneered the strategies of immunologically compatible bone marrow transplantation and the adoptive transfer of lymphocytes and has examined the roles of cytokines in treating patients with HIV infection.

A native of Detroit, Dr. Lane attended the University of Michigan where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1972 and earned his M.D. in 1976. He then completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of Michigan Hospital, Ann Arbor. He served in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps from 1979 to 2008 where he achieved the rank of Rear Admiral and served as Assistant Surgeon General.

Dr. Lane is a member of the Institute of Medicine, The American Federation for Clinical Research, The American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, The American Association of Immunologists, the American College of Physicians, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the Clinical Immunology Society. Currently, he is on the editorial board of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, PLoS Medicine, and The American Journal of Medicine. He has chaired and delivered plenary lectures at multiple national and international meetings in his field.

Dr. Lane won the Chevalier de I’Ordre National du Mali award in 2006, was recognized by the Institute for Scientific Information as a Highly Cited Researcher in 2003, and was awarded the U.S. Public Health Service Distinguished Service Medal in 2001.

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