Robert L. Danner, MD

BA, Johns Hopkins University
MD, Cornell University

Dr. Danner became a Senior Investigator at NIH in 1988 and holds the rank of Clinical Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center. In addition to the Intensive Care Unit, Dr. Danner attends on the Infectious Diseases Consult Service of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He is a longstanding member of the NIH Clinical Center Ethics Committee and more recently joined the Pediatric Care Committee.

He has served as a Special Consultant to the Food and Drug Administration and on their Anti-Infective Drug Products Advisory Committee. He has also served on the Editorial Board of Critical Care Medicine, the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Infectious Diseases and the Society of Critical Care Medicine's Continuing Education Committee. Dr. Danner is a past Chair of the Critical Care Medicine Test Committee and a former Director on the American Board of Internal Medicine. He is a founding member of the U.S. Critical Illness and Injury Trials Group (USCIITG) and served on their Organizing and Steering Committees. Dr. Danner has advised the Brookings Council on Antibacterial Drug Development at the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform.

Dr. Danner received his undergraduate degree in Biology from Johns Hopkins University and his degree in Medicine from Cornell University. He then completed residency training in Internal Medicine at New York Hospital / Cornell University Medical Center. Fellowship training in Critical Care Medicine and Infectious Diseases was completed at the NIH and Children's National Medical Center.

Septic shock and vascular inflammation have been long-term research interests of Dr. Danner's section. Investigations have focused on endotoxin, nitric oxide and carbon monoxide, stress kinase pathways and nuclear receptor signaling as targets for modulating the inflammatory response.

Dr. Danner has worked with Dr. Sameer Kadri to use large clinical data sets to study severe infections and antimicrobial resistance. His most recent basic science research is focused on the pathobiology of vascular remodeling in pulmonary arterial hypertension and the role of endothelial senescence in the acute and longer term cardiovascular consequences of SARS-Cov-2 infection.

See his Intramural Research Program bio page.

• Bench-to-Bedside and Back Award: Endothelial Senescence in Acute and Late COVID-19 Vasculopathy; (funding $130K/year for two years), 2023
• Bench-to-Bedside and Back Award (Associate Investigator): Effect of Dietary Fish Oil Enriched in Very-Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids on Cardiometabolic Risk Factors and Visual Function (Total funding $150K/year for two years; PI: Alan Remaley), 2023
• NIH Intramural Targeted Anti-COVID-19 (ITAC) Award (Associate Investigator): Impact of SARS-CoV2 Infection in Pulmonary Vascular Endothelium (Total funding $315K; PI: Jason Elinoff), 2020
• National Institutes of Health Clinical Center CEO Award, in recognition of the COVID IMC Physician Coverage Team, 2020
• NIH Director's Award, in recognition of the Clinical Center Ebola response, 2015
• Director Challenge Award: "Engineering a Multivalent Bacteriophage Targeting KPC+ K. pneumonia," 2013
• Bench-to-Bedside Award: "Role of Androgen and Estrogen Receptor Signaling in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension," 2011
• Society of Critical Care Medicine Presidential Citation for outstanding contributions, 2007-14
• Consumer's Research Council of America, top physician
• NIH Director's Award, 2006
• U.S. Public Health Service crisis response service award, Gulf Coast hurricanes, 2005
• USPHS Outstanding Unit Citation, 2003
• USPHS Outstanding Service Medal (clinical medicine and research), 2000
• American Federation for Clinical Research Henry Christian Award for abstract in immunology, 1999
• American Federation for Clinical Research Henry Christian Award for abstract in immunology, 1998
• USPHS Achievement Medal, 1997
• USPHS Commendation Medal, 1994
• Society of Critical Care Medicine Education Scholarship Award, 1993
• The AFCR Henry Christian Award poster presentation, 1991
• USPHS Commendation Medal, 1990
• Alpha Omega Alpha, 1979; Phi Beta Kappa, 1975

Endothelial PHD2 deficiency induces apoptosis resistance and inflammation via AKT activation and AIP1 loss independent of HIF2α. Wang S, Awad KS, Chen LY, Siddique MAH, Ferreyra GA, Wang CL, Joseph T, Yu ZX, Takeda K, Demirkale CY, Zhao YY, Elinoff JM, Danner RL. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2024 Aug 19. doi: 10.1152/ajplung.00077.2024. Online ahead of print. PMID: 39159362

BMPR2 Loss Activates AKT by Disrupting DLL4/NOTCH1 and PPARγ Signaling in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. Awad KS, Wang S, Dougherty EJ, Keshavarz A, Demirkale CY, Yu ZX, Miller L, Elinoff JM, Danner RL. Int J Mol Sci. 2024 May 15;25(10):5403. doi: 10.3390/ijms25105403. PMID: 38791441

Inflammation and DKK1-induced AKT activation contribute to endothelial dysfunction following NR2F2 loss. Dougherty EJ, Chen LY, Awad KS, Ferreyra GA, Demirkale CY, Keshavarz A, Gairhe S, Johnston KA, Hicks ME, Sandler AB, Curran CS, Krack JM, Ding Y, Suffredini AF, Solomon MA, Elinoff JM, Danner RL. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2023 Jun 1;324(6):L783-L798. doi: 10.1152/ajplung.00171.2022. Epub 2023 Apr 11. PMID: 37039367

Type I interferon activation and endothelial dysfunction in caveolin-1 insufficiency-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension. Gairhe S, Awad KS, Dougherty EJ, Ferreyra GA, Wang S, Yu ZX, Takeda K, Demirkale CY, Torabi-Parizi P, Austin ED, Elinoff JM, Danner RL. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Mar 16;118(11):e2010206118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2010206118. PMID: 33836561

Meta-analysis of blood genome-wide expression profiling studies in pulmonary arterial hypertension. Elinoff JM, Mazer AJ, Cai R, Lu M, Graninger G, Harper B, Ferreyra GA, Sun J, Solomon MA, Danner RL. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2020 Jan 1;318(1):L98-L111. doi: 10.1152/ajplung.00252.2019. Epub 2019 Oct 16. PMID: 31617731

Visit PubMed.gov for a full list of Dr. Danner's publications.