Duane Alexander, M.D., was named NICHD Director on February 5, 1986, after serving as Acting Director. Dr. Alexander also served a four-year term as the Institute's Deputy Director and was the Assistant to the Director, beginning in 1978.

Much of his career has been with the NICHD. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Pennsylvania State University, Dr. Alexander earned his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Following his internship and residency at the Department of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Dr. Alexander joined the NICHD in 1968, as a clinical associate in the Children's Diagnostic and Study Branch. Following his tenure with the Branch, Dr. Alexander returned to Johns Hopkins as a fellow in pediatrics (developmental disabilities) at the John F. Kennedy Institute for Habilitation of the Mentally and Physically Handicapped Child.

His interests brought him back to the NICHD in 1971, when Dr. Alexander became Assistant to the Scientific Director and directed the NICHD National Amniocentesis Study. The study established the safety and accuracy of prenatal diagnosis using amniocentesis, now widely used to detect numerous genetic defects and inborn errors of metabolism.

From 1974 to 1978, Dr. Alexander served as medical officer in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, in what is now the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). During that time, he was also the physician on the staff of the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, whose recommendations form the basis of current DHHS regulations that protect human subjects in research.

Dr. Alexander is a diplomat of the American Board of Pediatrics and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Pediatric Society, and the Society for Developmental Pediatrics. For more than a decade, he also served as the United States' observer on the Steering Committee on Bioethics for the Council of Europe. As an officer in the Public Health Service (PHS), Dr. Alexander has received numerous PHS awards, including a Commendation Medal in 1970, a Meritorious Service Medal, and a Special Recognition Award in 1985. He also received the Surgeon General's Exemplary Service Medal in 1990, and the Surgeon General’s Medallion in 1993 and 2002.

Dr. Alexander has received the public service awards from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (1992 and 2005), the American Psychological Association (1992), the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (1993), the American Academy of Pediatrics (1992) and the Federation of Behavioral, Psychological and Cognitive Sciences (1999). In 2002, Dr. Alexander received the Arnold J. Capute award from the AAP, to commend him on his contributions to the health and well-being of children with disabilities through service and/or advocacy on local, state, and national levels. In 2004, the American Medical Association (AMA) commended Dr. Alexander for his leadership in research on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome by awarding him the Dr. Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service. The award, named for the AMA's founder, recognizes federal, state, and municipal officials whose contributions promote the art and science of medicine and the betterment of the public health.

In addition, Dr. Alexander is the author of numerous articles and book chapters, most of which relate to his research in developmental disabilities.