Straus was born in New York City in 1946,[1][2] and grew up in Brooklyn, attending the Yeshivah of Flatbush for Elementary and High School.

[3] He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, switching from physics to biology,[3] and gained his BS in life sciences in 1968.

[1][2] He subsequently trained at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, and also held a fellowship in infectious diseases at Washington University in St.

[1][4] In October 1999, Straus was appointed the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)'s first director (while continuing his work at NIAID), a position he held until November 2006.

[11] In the early 1990s, Straus and colleagues discovered autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (ALPS), a rare genetic disorder in which the normal Fas-mediated apoptosis of lymphocytes is disrupted, leading to uncontrolled proliferation.

[3] Under his leadership, NIH-funded research into complementary and alternative medicine tripled,[2][6] with NCCAM funding large (phase III) clinical trials of St John's wort for depression, Ginkgo biloba extracts for dementia, and acupuncture and glucosamine/chondroitin sulfate supplements for osteoarthritis of the knee joint, among other treatment modalities.

[3] He later wrote: "In the early years of NCCAM, there was a sense of urgency to scientifically assess a range of CAM therapies that had been in long use by the public in the absence of proof of safety or efficacy.

"[15] By 2006, the center's research focus had shifted away from large clinical trials and towards investigating how treatments might work, as well as the optimal dosing strategy for botanical extracts and their interactions with prescription drugs.

[15] NCCAM was criticised for funding trials of EDTA chelation therapy in coronary artery disease and the Gonzalez regimen in pancreatic cancer.

[16] Straus responded that the center had "made important contributions in a field that is fraught with controversy and challenges" and that it was "applying the same scientific standards to the conduct of research and its review as used by other NIH institutes".

[1][2][4] He was honored with the National ME Fund Award of the Netherlands in 1999,[1] IDSA's John F. Enders Lectureship in medical virology in 2005,[18] and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons's gold medal for Distinguished Achievements in Medicine in 2007.