[1] During her undergraduate studies, she took dance classes at Peabody Institute, volunteered at the Johns Hopkins Hospital neonatal unit, and worked for the psychology department.

Clayton has strengthened NIH support for research on diseases, disorders, and conditions that affect women.

Her clinical research has ranged from randomized controlled trials of novel therapies for immune-mediated ocular diseases to studies on the development of digital imaging techniques for the anterior segment.

She received the Senior Achievement Award from the Board of Trustees of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in 2008, was selected as a 2010 Silver Fellow by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, and won the European Uveitis Patient Interest Association Clinical Uveitis Research Award in 2010.

Clayton was granted the Bernadine Healy Award for Visionary Leadership in Women's Health in 2016.

[1] The same year, she was inducted into Johns Hopkins University's Society of Scholars as a distinguished alum.