Robert H. Carter, M.D.
Dr. Robert H. Carter is Deputy Director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), a position he has held since 2008. Dr. Carter served as NIAMS Acting Director from December 2018 until February 2021.
As Deputy Director, Dr. Carter leads NIAMS policy initiatives and projects such as the NIAMS Centers Evaluation Working Group and Clinical Trials Working Group. He leads the Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP) in Autoimmune and Immune-mediated Disease (AIM), a public-private partnership between government, industry, advocacy organizations, and academic centers that has changed the landscape for research in these diseases by focusing on tissues with active disease from patients. Dr. Carter also helps to lead the NIH Back Pain Consortium (BACPAC) Research Program and the Restoring Joint Heath and Function to Reduce Pain (RE-JOIN) Consortium, both of which are part of the NIH's Helping to End Addiction Long-term® (HEAL) Initiative. He has served as co-chair for the Liaisons Coordinating Team for the NIH All of Us Research Program since 2016.
Dr. Carter received his bachelor’s degree from Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., in 1978, magna cum laude, in biology. He received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1982. He trained in internal medicine at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center. He was a fellow in rheumatology and immunology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and in molecular and clinical rheumatology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is board certified in internal medicine and rheumatology.
Prior to joining NIAMS, Dr. Carter was professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and served as director of the Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology. He established a record of exemplary career achievements in the fields of rheumatology and immunology. He was the principal investigator (PI) of the NIAMS-supported UAB Rheumatic Disease Core Center and the PI of an Autoimmunity Center of Excellence supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID). He also served as staff physician at the Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center.