Lanman began his medical career as an attending psychiatrist at
Kaiser Permanente in
Santa Clara County, California in 1985, where he served as Chief of Psychiatry and Chemical Dependency, then, as Chief of Quality. At Kaiser Lanman encouraged adoption of less invasive procedures and improvements in diagnosis in other specialties, culminating in a book chapter he authored on variation in physician practice patterns and hospitalization rates for children with asthma across Kaiser's 14 hospitals in Northern California. San Jose Medical Group was named the "most effective managed care medical group in the country" in 1996 by The Advisory Board Company. In 1995, Lanman founded Adesso Healthcare Technology Services as
Founder and Chief Executive Officer. Adesso offered an alternative to a cost-cutting approach by
health maintenance organizations (HMOs) that had been using
primary care physicians as
gatekeepers, limiting access to specialty physician care. Under Adesso, patients could be referred to specialist physician networks, such as
cardiologists or
ophthalmologists, without preauthorization. In return the specialist networks contracted directly with health insurers, and instead of
fee-for-service, the specialists were reimbursed utilizing severity-adjusted case rates for each episode of care. Adesso filed for an
IPO in early 2000, however, the public offering succumbed to the stock market crash that year.
Biotechnology Lanman transitioned to the biotechnology sector from physician practice management, first joining
Atherotech, Inc. as Chief Medical Officer in 2000. Atherotech offered a cardiovascular biomarker diagnostic known as the
Vertical Auto Profile- or VAP-expanded cholesterol and lipoprotein test, to improve prediction of risk of heart attack and stroke. There he published validation studies on the VAP test's unique
lipoprotein (a) (Lp(a)) cholesterol measurement and other lipoprotein biomarkers. Atherotech was privately acquired by Behrman Capital. In 2005, Lanman joined a second preventive cardiology biomarker company,
diaDexus, Inc., as Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. DiaDexus developed a test for
lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2), the first FDA-cleared biomarker test to predict risk of
stroke. DiaDexus completed a reverse IPO via merger with
VaxGen in 2010. After working in two companies to improve prediction of risk for cardiovascular events, Lanman joined
Veracyte, Inc. in 2008 as Chief Medical Officer. Veracyte develops minimally invasive diagnostic tests utilizing
genomics. Veracyte's initial genomics tests improved the diagnosis of
thyroid nodules and
lung nodules without resorting to surgery. Veracyte, Inc. went public in October, 2013. In September 2014, Lanman joined
Guardant Health, Inc. where he served as Global Chief Medical Officer. Guardant Health went public in October, 2018. Lanman retired from Guardant Health on December 31, 2019, but continued as an Advisor through early 2021. He continues to research and publish in medicine and historical ecology, while also serving on the Boards of Chiara Biosciences, Inc., Circulogene, Inc., WeTree, Inc., and as an Advisor to Forward Health, Inc., Precede Biosciences, Sunbird Bio, Inc., and Teiko Bio, Inc. He was a past Board member of
Biolase, Inc. from 2017 to 2022 and the
American Psychiatric Association from 1983 to 1985.
Historical ecology Lanman researches and publishes on California's
historical ecology to improve and guide efforts at
rewilding, often changing understanding of the historical fauna and flora of the state. His first historical ecology discovery was of lost specimens of
steelhead trout (
Oncorhynchus mykiss) in the collections of the
California Academy of Sciences, establishing that in the 1890's the
creek behind his house in
Los Altos was a trout stream. Next, in a trio of publications, he and colleagues established novel physical evidence that the
North American beaver (
Castor canadensis) was native to most of California. In 2021, Lanman and colleagues published the results of an
ancient DNA sequencing study of
salmonid remains from archaeological excavations at
Mission Santa Clara which extended the southern limit of the historical spawning range of
Chinook salmon, further south to
San Jose, California. More recently, he proposed, along with the
Muwekma Ohlone and
Amah Mutsun tribes, restoration of
tule elk (
Cervus canadensis nannodes) to the
San Francisco Peninsula and northern
Monterey Bay regions. In 2023, he published, along with
California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and
University of California, Berkeley biologists, a habitat suitability analysis which found long patches of habitat suitable for tule elk from
Pacifica to the
Pajaro River along the coastal and inland sides of the
Santa Cruz Mountains. ==Representative publications==