Washington, D.C. -- Dr. Lawrence Deyton, chief of the HIV Research Branch at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has joined the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to direct the AIDS Service for the VA health-care system, the largest single provider of HIV/AIDS care in the country.
Deyton's office coordinates HIV care and prevention programs, and provides education and clinical guidance to physicians and other health professionals in VA facilities across the nation. Deyton also works with VA clinicians and researchers to stimulate increased HIV/AIDS research. Cumulatively, VA has treated more than 44,000 veterans with HIV infection, 27,700 of whom had a diagnosis of AIDS.
"Dr. Deyton brings a combination of leadership, clinical experience, research accomplishments and administrative acumen that are an excellent match with VA's AIDS program," said VA Under Secretary for Health Dr. Kenneth W. Kizer.
"With our commitment to primary care and our research emphasis on clinical investigations, VA is in a unique position to validate the utility of research findings in the care of patients with HIV infection," Kizer said.
Before assuming his VA position, Deyton also served as acting director of the Division of Extramural Activities at NIAID, which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and established NIAID's Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS, a national AIDS research program. He also was an attending physician at an HIV/AIDS clinic at the Institute and, since 1995, has held a concurrent clinical faculty position at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Deyton's experience also includes service at the Department of Health and Human Services and work with a congressional subcommittee handling major health matters. In addition, he was cofounder of the Whitman-Walker Clinic, a multi-service community clinic recognized as a major resource for AIDS care in the nation's capital.
Deyton earned his medical degree from George Washington University School of Medicine. He received a master of science degree in health policy and management from Harvard School of Public Health after completing a special major in urban health at the University of Kansas. Deyton succeeds Marvelu "Bobbie" Peterson, Ph.D., who became clinical program manager in VA's Office of the Medical Inspector.
