Carol Langford, MD, MHS

Carol A. Langford, MD, MHS, FACP, received her medical degree at the University of California Los Angeles in 1987 and trained in internal medicine at the University of Michigan from 1987 to 1990. She was a fellow in rheumatology at Duke University Medical Center from 1990 to 1994. In 1995, she received a Master's Degree in health sciences from Duke University in order to pursue a career in clinical investigation.

From 1994 to 2004, Dr. Langford was a senior investigator within the Immunologic Diseases Section of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). At the NIH, Dr. Langford’s research focused on vasculitic diseases, where she was Principal Investigator for nine vasculitis-related protocols. From 1999 to 2002, Dr. Langford served as Chairman of the NIAID Institutional Review Board in supporting the protection of human subjects. While at the NIH, Dr. Langford received an NIAID Special Act of Service Award in 2001 and was the recipient of NIAID Staff Recognition Awards from 1998 through 2004.

In 2004, Dr. Langford joined Cleveland Clinic to become Director of the Center for Vasculitis Care and Research within the Department of Rheumatic and Immunologic Diseases. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University and was named Vice-Chair of Rheumatology for Research in 2007. In 2011 she became the Harold C. Schott endowed Chair in Rheumatic and Immunologic Diseases. 

At Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Langford’s work has continued to focus on patient care and research in vasculitic diseases, including granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener’s), microscopic polyangiitis, eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Churg-Strauss), polyarteritis nodosa, giant cell arteritis, Takayasu arteritis,  and other forms of vasculitis. In 2007, she was awarded an important research contract from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the NIH for concurrent pilot studies in giant cell arteritis and Takayasu’s arteritis. She has additionally received funding from the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network of the NIH to conduct a pilot study in granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener’s) that has led to a multicenter International randomized trial. This study will be conducted in partnership with colleagues in the Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium, a collaborative research network funded by the NIH and the European Vasculitis Society.

Dr. Langford is an active member of the American College of Rheumatology, where she has served on several committees. She was an Associate Editor for Arthritis and Rheumatology, a leading journal in rheumatology, from 2000 to 2005. Dr. Langford serves as a consultant to the Vasculitis Foundation. She has been named one of Cleveland’s Top Doctors by Cleveland magazine.

A frequently invited lecturer at national and international medical meetings, Dr. Langford has authored numerous scientific papers and chapters on vasculitis. She is Co-Editor with Anthony Fauci, MD, for Harrison’s Rheumatology taken from Harrisons’s Principles of Internal Medicine.