He received his Ph.D. in medical biochemistry in Johannesburg, South Africa, carried out post-doctoral studies in Hematology at Tufts University, and studied molecular and cellular neuroscience at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Duke University. Dr. Lambert was a faculty member in the Cell Biology department at the University of Massachusetts Medical School for ten years before moving to UCF in 2006. He joined the College of Medicine in August 2008.