Dr. Alford is the Chairman of the Board and the CEO of the NASA-sponsored National Space Biomedical Research Institute. He has been awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal.

Dr. Alford is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

He has served on the NASA Headquarters National Advisory Council, the select White House "Blue Ribbon" Advisory Committee for the Redesign of the Space Station, NASA's Aerospace Medicine Advisory Committee (Chairman), the Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications Committee (Chairman), the Life Sciences Advisory Committee, the NASA Space and Earth Sciences Advisory Committee and the Task Force on the Scientific Uses of the Space Station.

Dr. Alford has been Consultant to the Surgeon Generals of the United States Army and the United States Navy.